Property Boom Around New Airport, Pattaya

[george]

property boom around new airport, Pattaya

BANGKOK: -- Private investors are flocking to grasp big opportunities seen in areas around Suvarnabhumi Airport and Pattaya, and many property projects – both big and small – are in the pipeline, developers told a seminar last week.

Entitled “The Development and Business Opportunities around Suvarnabhumi International Airport”, the seminar was organised by Airports of Thailand Plc, The Nation and BizWeek by Krungthep Turakij.

Teerachon Manomaiphibul, assistant managing director of Property Perfect, said the new airport would attract many business activities, including air transport services, aerospace equipment, manufacture of chemicals and electronics, freight forwarding, warehousing, delivery businesses, car rental, printing, contracting, building services, parking lots, hotels, travel businesses, machinery and mailing.

“I expect that more than 100 residential housing developments will be located to the east of Bangkok and 80 per cent of the buyers will work at the airport or in related businesses,” Teerachon said.

Suphin Mechuchep, managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle (Thailand), said many development projects had been an-nounced, including the Suvar-nabhumi Logistics Centre, by Rattanabadee Land Co, covering a land area of 45.6 hectares adjacent to the Bang Na-Trat highway.

Moreover, there is the Suvar-nabhumi Centre, owned by Krisda Mahanakorn, with a hotel, shopping complex, convention centre, and medium to high-end detached housing units covering a land area of 640 hectares, also on the Bang Na-Trat highway.

Suphin said warehouse and logistics businesses were also springing up around the airport area, such as Ticon Logistic Park, a business site developed on Bang Na-Trat highway after the company bought about 54 hec-tares of land, worth Bt999 million, at an auction staged by the Thai Asset Management Corp.

Demand for office space is also rising in the vicinity of the new airport as export and import companies are establishing offices in the area.

Suphin said multinational companies were more likely to look for space in prime locations in Bangkok’s central business district, rather than near the airport, and people working near the airport area may not want to live there because of the noise.

“Pattaya will benefit from the opening of the new airport,” Suphin said. “Many residential projects are being developed there.” Pattaya is about one hour’s drive from the airport.

Chaovarat Chaochavanil, Thai Asset Management Corp’s assistant president for asset development, said the corporation had sold property near the new airport worth Bt4 billion over the past three or four months to property developers.

Many foreign investors have recently approached the corporation to discuss the possibility of property investment around the new airport. They are not interested solely in the airport area in the eastern part of Bangkok, but also in Prachin Buri and Chachoengsao.

Toyota, for instance, has an-nounced plans to develop a new auto manufacturing plant

covering about 16 hectares in Chachoengsao province.

Viboon Kromadit, senior vice president of Amata Corp, which develops industrial estates, said the group was ready to work with any operator seeking a manufacturing base.

New businesses, such as jewellery manufacturing and logistics companies, have been moving to eastern Bangkok simply to be closer to the airport.

ML Hathaijanok Kritakara, executive director in Thailand for the Pacific-Asia Travel Association, said Suvarnabhumi Airport would help Thailand to become an aviation hub for Asia, linking Western countries with Australia, Far East Asia and Indochina.

Thailand will therefore compete with Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as Malaysia, to increase its tourist numbers. Apart from easier access to the Kingdom, the cost of travelling in the country is cheaper and there is a variety of tourism products to offer.

Chittimas Ketvoravit, managing director of Universal Hospi-tality – developer of Suvarnabhumi Novotel Airport – said the hotel would open in May with 612 rooms plus meeting rooms and an underground railway station. It will focus on business people travelling frequently.

She said that because of space available around the new air-port, there were greater opportunities for hotel businesses at Suvarnabhumi than at other big international airports.

--Bangkok Post 2005-09-20

[think_too_mut]

Two years ago I read about plans to build a modern city like Singapore in the area of Suvarnabumi airport.

Has the idea died out?

[Heng]

Most people missed the boat on this years and years ago. Sure there is still opportunity, but you'll almost invariably be dealing with people who got in at a few hundred thousand Baht per rai and are now pushing a million per rai on you (and not at all for the choice pieces.... rental only, thanks).

[chownah]

I believe it was a news forum topic that said that the area around the new airport did not have adequate drainage and it was implied that this problem would not or could not be fixed.