Sukkumvit Soi 6

[dantilley]

Does anybody know if there are plans to do something productive with the squalid, decrepit eyesore that is Sukkumvit Soi 6? As long as I've known it, this piece of what must be absolute premium real estate has been one of the ugliest, destitute Sois I've seen in Bangkok. I mean not only is it in the lucrative low-numbered Soi area of Sukkumvit, but it's also literally inches away from Nana BTS station. Anything commercial that was built there, be it a hotel, restaurant, bar or whatever, would be guaranteed to make a fortune, surely.

The only commercial enterprise on that Soi is the less than luxurious Crown Hotel right down the end. Still, I can't think of any other hotel in that area with rooms as cheap as 450 Baht...

[fxm88]

Does anybody know if there are plans to do something productive with the squalid, decrepit eyesore that is Sukkumvit Soi 6?

Don't sell Soi 6 short -- it makes an eblow turn and continues on to Soi 4, so the Crown Hotel is actually in the middle of the soi. However, you're right about the less-than-half-finished high-rise and the empty lot at the corners with Sukhumvit. I suspect the developers went bust in the crash and the matter is still working its way through the courts.

Hey, is there still a Christian church down that Soi? Are they the folks testifyin' out in front of Nana plaza (it's a short walk)?

[lomatopo]

Note that Sukhumvit Soi 6 does loop around and connect with Soi 4, and that on that stretch there are a number of exisiting commerical enterprises including the 3-bulding Saranjai Mansions, and two new buildings under construction. The one to the left, or east, and immediately adjacent to Saranjai Mansions is HUGE. There are a number of other apartment/condo buildings as well, and a Baptist Church.

I think that there are two specific lots that are the cause of your consternation. One is a partially completed four-storey skeleton of a building. I am under the impression that this a dinosaur fossil dating to 1997. The other open lot, opposite this structure, serves as a both a dump for used building materials and as temporary low-cost housing.

I can only assume that the owners of these properties:

- cannot currently afford to develop them, and are unwilling to sell them, for any number of reasons.

- are made up of several different parties, families or members of a family that have not yet come to an agreement as to how to develop them.

- are a bank or similar lending entity currently holds title (or whatever it is called here) and has yet to decide how the property should be developed, or decided if it should be sold and to whom.

- are involved in a complex legal wrangling.

So now I want to ask a question: What's up with that huge new, unoccupied building on the southeast corner of the Asoke/Sukhumvit intersection? It seems like it's ben finished for ~ 1 year, but it does not appear to be occupied?