Bangla Mall set to open its doors

Tourists and residents out for a stroll on the island’s infamous pedestrian street, Soi Bangla, will soon be privy to yet one more considerable shopping venue, with the Bangla Mall set to open its doors next month.

Official launch plans were announced by the project’s developer Phuket Creation Co Ltd last Friday at a press conference at the Kee Resort, just a short stroll from the center of Bangla and the site of the project, which is currently undergoing its final touches.

The 300 million baht, outdoor-indoor mini-mall will officially open its doors to the public on March 18, announced Phuket Property Creation President Sompong Doapisad.

“We weren’t initially planning to open the mall so soon but since all of the units sold out well ahead of our expectations, we’ve moved the opening date forward,” he said.

The project will feature a total of 102 units ranging from 20 to 250 square meters, situated on two stories and a basement, with total built up area 0f 5,800 sqm.

Mr Sompong explainted that the units comprise 24 regular shops, 18 “mini plazas”, eight corner shops and 52 kiosks.

Some of the major tenants include a Phuket FantaSea souvenir shop a 7-Eleven, a Bangkok Bank branch a KFC a Boots pharmacy and a Bata shoe store.

Another highly anticipated tenant is the Bangkok Burger Company. This will be the country’s second branch following the success of the inaugural Thong Lor branch in the capital.

There will also be a mobile phone and IT device booth zone, similar to the ones currently found in Central Festival and Junceylon, and a one would expect, many of the tenant s will be selling souvenirs to the multitudes of tourists expected.

Sansiri's popular dCondo brand set to invest heavily 2012

RESIDENTIAL developer Sansiri has earmarked 24 billion baht to lunch 44 projects worth 46bn baht this year and to buy land for more projects next year.

“This year we will expand our products to cover all market segments including units priced lower than 2mn baht and over 10 million baht. This will stress our number one quality brand in the phuket property market,” President Srettha Thavisin said recently.

The investment will be financed 60 per cent from bank loans and debentures and 40 per cent from internal cash flow, he said.

Of the total capital-expenditure budget, 6bn baht will be spent on acquiring undeveloped land and 18bn baht on construction of the 44 projects.

Of the new ventures, 19 will be condominiums worth 19 bn baht, 15 will be detached-house projects worth 20 bn baht, and 10 will be other projects worth 7bn baht. One of the new phuket condominium projects will be a luxury complex on Ploenchit Road in Bangkok.

Four on five projects will be upcountry in resort destinations such as Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Khao Yai in Nakhon Rathasima province and here in Phuket.

For this year, Sansiri targets presales of 32bn baht and revenue of 28bn, up 16 per cent from its revenue target of 24 bn last year.

At least 10 bn baht of its presales is expected to come this quarter when it lunches many projects suring the “Sansiri Life Come Home” fair from Febuary 17-19 at Siam Paragon shopping centre in Bangkok

It will also open the Sansiri Lounge on the third floor of Siam Paragon to build a long lasting relationship with its customers.

The company expects 30 per cent of its revenue to come from the high-end market-houses costing more than 10.1 mn baht, townhouses priced higher than 7.1mn baht and condos priced at more than 100,000 baht per square metre.

About 40 per cent of revenue will come from the middle market-houses priced from 5.1mn baht to 10mn baht, townhouses from 3.1 baht to 7 mn baht and condos from 60,000-100,000 baht per square metre.

The remaining 30 per cent will come from the low-end market – houses priced from 2.5 mn baht to 5 mn baht, townhouses from 1.2mn baht t0 3mn baht and condos costing 40,000 – 60,000 per square metre.

Detached houses will make up 30 to 40 percent of its revenue, townhouse 20 to 25 per cent and condos 40 to 50 per cent.

Sansiri’s 600 mn baht prefabrication plant will start operating in the middle of next month with the capacity to churn out 150 detached homes a month. It will help the company speed up contruction, cut costs and improve its net profit margin from less than 10 per cent last year.

Although the Bangkok area was struck by a massive flood last year, that did not directly change home-buyer’s behaviour because of the culture of staying close to family and community, Srettha said. The company will continue with a mix of lowrises and high-rises this year.

“We believe that the property market this year will grow 7-10 per cent in line with the estimate of gross domestic product growth of 3.5 to 5 per cent. This will drive our presales and revenue to archieve the targets this year,” he said.

Istana Phuket design claims global award

PRISM Estates have won the Best International Architecture Award (Multiple Residence) as developers of the Istana Phuket residential estate at Naithon Beach.

The International Property Awards (IPA) ceremony was held on December 12 at the Savoy Hotel in London, England and produced in association with Bloomberg TV and Google. .

The award validates the architectural vision of Richard Shearer, Managing Partner of Prism Estates who collaborated with Gary Fell and his team at GFAB Architects to create 19 individually-designed residences with architecture based on bespoke design and environmental harmony. .

Prism Director and Head of Sales, Richard Cohen expressed his delight walking away with the accolade. .

“We are thrilled and humbled by this award. Gary Fell and his team at GFAB Architects outdid themselves with supreme attention to detail, cutting edge engineering/technology, and a design that will continue to be admired for generations. We are also quick to point out this award could never have come to be without the incredible support of the entire Istana team including CPS Group, the interior design team at A2Zen and the construction tream at Haad Yai Nantakorn,” he said. .

The IPA are open to residential and commercial property profressionals from around the globe and are split into regions covering the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the UK. .

Companies selected as winners are then invited to attend an awards presentation for each region and selected regional winners go onto London for the world finals. .

Istana Phuket villas are still at available for sale with prices ranging from US$4.25 million up to US$8.45mmn for th seven bedroom Villa 19. .

Four awards for Phuket developers

THE winners of the inaugural South East Asia Property Awards2011 were announced on November 30 in Singapore. Over 300 industry leaders and guests attended the glittering Gala Dinner and presentation ceremony held at Hotel Fort Canning.

Phuket Property Developers walked away with four awards including Real Estate Personality of the Year (South East Asia) which was won by Ho Kwon Ping, Executive Chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings; Best Shared Ownership Development (South East Asia) won by The Village Coconut Island, The Village Management Co; Best Developer (Thailand) won by Laguna Resorts and Hotel Public Company Limited and Best Villa Development (Thailand) won by Malaiwana Park Development Co Ltd.

Terry Blackburn, CEO of Ensign Media said the South East Asia region has some of the world most innovative and interesting property developments, designed by architects and built by developers whose reputations are known globally. “Amazingly, we received over 1,500 nominations and from those over 300 entries. These figures are a testament to breadth and variety of quality developments in the region and the enthusiasm to recognize the companies behind them. They are also a reflection of the growing strength of the industry in South East Asia.” He said

Ensign Media, publisher of Property Report South East Asia magazine, launched the first ever South East Asia Property Awards to recognize the best of the region’s residential real estate industry.

Nick Candy, CEO of luxury interior design and development management firm Candy & Candy said “I was delighted to participate as judge and attend the inaugural South East Asia Property Awards 2011. The level of industry participation and the quality of developments that won awards illustrates the exceptionally high standards of the luxury property market in South East Asia.”

The panel of judges headed up by Leong Chi Meng, Managing Director (SEA), CBRE Global Investors spent several weeks scrutinising all entries to decide on the winning properties in order to ensure that they were all deserving of their status. BDO Advisory supervised the entire judging procedure in order to guarantee the fairness, transparency and credibility of the South East Asia Property Awards.

Taming the savage condo-hotel beast, Phuket Property

NEARLY to decades ago, in 1993, Laguna Phuket started residential sales for their Allamanda condominium. Asia was a rising star, the baht surged in appreciation and foreign investment into Thailand Property was still in its early days.

Though residential-led hospitality, or condo-hotels, was hardly new on the scene, here the book was blank on how, why or what the future of the product would be. Over the years, the plunge into various realms of alternative ownership has proved to be a rocky road for the property market.

Initially Banyan Tree operated Allamanda as a low cost entry point into the destination resort of Laguna. Positioning it below the Sheraton Grand (now Angsana), Dusit and Laguna Beach Resort. Blending the management culture of a luxury and mid-scale offering is never an easy task and this proved equally cumbersome.

Later two more Allamandas came on board over the year, know as 2 and 3. Legally these are each individual condominium juristic persons and the only binding entity was the namesake.

Timeshare or what we now often refer to as gentrified vacation ownership kicked off in 1998, with the then Allamanda Vacation Club (now Laguna Holiday Club) taking inventory in the condo blocks and selling time based stays.

After the 1997 Asian contagion, selling one week timeshare units was deemed to br far easier compared to unit sales and looked to be the way forward to spur the pace of sales in the project. However, as Asians second property wave took off in the early part of the lase decade, product demands, especially those seeking large town homes and villas, changed the marketplace in a dramatic fashion. Instead of one and two bedroom units, buyers wanted those scarce pool villas and more space.

As market sentiment flourished, Laguna took the opportunity to develop a purpose built vacation ownership complex; the Laguna Holiday Club. Tension between unit owners and management, and a better alignment of business interests dictated the move. Traditional hotels and on-the-spot-resort-sales make strange bedfellows so going from a shared room into a separate space made sense.

Being an observer of the property market, it puzzled me during those boom y
ears why waterfront duplex units and condos along the golf course failed to experience the same rise in capital appreciation as the larger marketplace. A prime location near the beach with complete infrastructure and life in an intergrated resort. If it were boxing, Allamanda was fighting below its weight.

It’s known within the industry about the fracturing of relationships between the various Allamandas, the developer and owners. Eventually this came to a head with part of the complex becoming the Best Western Allamanda. One portion elected not to operate as a hotel.

Enter hospitality veteran and long time Phuket resident, Robert de Graaf with an impressive resume and whose Albatross Travel Agency and dining outlet have been mainstays in the community. Under his watch things are clearly on the upswing. With a bit of care and navigation of murky waters needed by a technocrat, the rental operation has a new lease on life. A recently staged upgrading of units it ongoing and improvements to the food and beverage operation have lifted up the entire atmosphere. Robert has worked tirelessly and with passion which is exactly what has been needed.

As for the ugly beast of condo-hotels, communal resort living and the power keg of political infighting is hardly specific to Phuket. Just visit a coop in any world class destination. Annual owner meetings often mimic Gadaffis last days of power in Libya. Ever since Caine and Abel when you put one person in close proximity with another, there is bound to be troupe.

I had coffee recently with Robert, and its nice to see things moving forward in the right direction.

As I write this, the word on the grapevine is that perhaps interests may be aligning among the various components of the project and that a uniform property offering may be in the works. For Phuket Property owners the timing could not be better with the island gearing up for a terrific high season. Allamanda continues to show great promise going forward and a united condo clearly remains the ultimate solution.

Blume blurs living lines Phuket Property

WHEN Ralph Lauren began his distressed fashion concept, Grace Carrey was part of the research and development team based in Hong Kong that sourced materials and processes for the Italian fashion icon.

Years later, having built up considerable R&D knowledge of Asian textile and manufacturing industries,  Grace struck out on her own to bring Phuket a range of furniture that can adorn a home both inside and out.

Grace’s company, Blume Living, has a keen following from Hong Kong residents with Phuket Property who buy her designs and have them shipped here to decorate their holiday homes.

Buying a Junk to live to in Hong Kong posed Grace the dilemma of how to decorate such a restricted space internally and exploit exposed deck areas on board.

The idea of using outdoor furniture was her solution. Durable, lightweight and strong, the rattan designs also complemented the vellsel’s wooden construction.

Now, Grace’s home doubles as a showroom for people to visit and see a working model of her furniture designs.

My strength is in interpreting a design concept into a language that factories can understand and ensure nothing is lost in translation.

Many of our designs use the concept of what we call blurring the line between indoor and outdoor living. So our furniture is suitable for outdoor use, but doesn’t look out of place when put indoors.

“In additional, when you tie indoor and outdoor furniture using colors or the same material, you bring your outdoor space inside.”

There are two standard design types available from Blume; high density polyethylene (HDPE) used for both the rattan look with a sturdy aluminum frame, and a teak wood effect with stainless steel frame which offers a sleek contemporary look, popular in the European market and therefore suitable for design projects here in Phuket.

My design last year was all about making the material look natural, and i used rosewood and bamboo effects in keeping with that concept. This year I am playing on the face that the rattan is synthetic, so I am using colors to highlight this.  By combining a few colours in a single chair the finished products give a very fresh ‘Bistro’ look which can be customized with other colour combinations to suit different thems

Rosewood is the most popular finish in Grace’s catalogue with a texture and color that are strikingly similar to the real material.

I have come up with some very unique finishes that nobody has. The first time a rosewood piece went through customs, the officer was so convinced that it was real wood, he held the shipment back until we literally set fire to a price of furniture to show him it was not real wood.

My bamboo finish is especially designed for the Phuket Market. I believe, it matches very well with the natural ropes or bamboo material being used indoors.

Blume Living furniture already complements many Phuket Residence including those in Layan Garden, Anchan Villas, Laguna Villas and many other private villas.

The Privilege Residences Patong

THE Privilege Residences Patong is the sister project of successful luxury condominium project The Bay Cliff. After the first project sold out, The Bay Cliff Development decided to lunch another condominium project and take the definition of ‘luxury living’ to the next level.

“Since we lunched The Privilege Residences Patong in October last year, we have sold about 30 percent of out unit. Although this figure may seem low compared with other condominium projects in Phuket, this is really quite a positive percentage relative to other sales in the high-end market,” said Mr Theeraphan Choprasertchok, Chairman of The Bay Cliff Development.

“Our project has four different buildings: Two buildings are situated on elevated ground,while the other two are situated on the lower level and it is these that have sold the most,” Mr Theeraphan said.

“We have five types of unit:one, two and three-bedroom units, duplex, and penthouse. Prices start at six million and go up to 55mn baht,” he added.

The Bay Cliff Development is scheduled to complete the project by early next year and the overall construction is nearly finalized.

“The project was first launched in October 2010 and is expected to be complete and ready to move into by May 2012,” said Mr Theeraphan.

“So far, construction is 70 percent complete. We now have some architecture and interior work to do. We will get the lower  buildings completed first, since it is easier to work on the lower land,” he added.

The Bay Cliff Development set their target on the foreign market. However, the economic crisis in Europe has made it difficult for investors to commit during this time of instability.

“We Europeans, since they were our main customers from our previous project. Surprisingly, most of the buyers who bought unit from The Privileges are Thai. Even the only penthouse  of our project was sold to a Thai buyer. Most of them have bought units as an investment, since we offer a six per cent net guaranteed rate return program on the buying price of all units,” said Mr Theeraphan.

The Bay Cliff Development have a contingency plan in order to solve this problem.

“I came up with the back up plan in order to solve the problem. We see a very good potential in the Chinese and Australian markets and will now focus our strategies there,” he added.

“I believe the projects’ location is correct. Timing is the only is sure. We measured our success from our previous project. Everyone who bought from us previously said that this is a prime location. I know the economic crisis has affected our sales and currently this is a difficult time to market to Europeans,” said Mr Theeraphan.

The Bay Cliff Development hopes the completion of the lower buildings will attract a lot more people to come and buy from them.

“Once the first two building are complete, more people will buy. There are a lot of customers from our previous project who will make purchases when they see the finished units and not just computer graphic images. We expect to sell another 20 per cent of our rooms before May 2012,” he added.

The completion of the building is not the only incentive to attract more people to buy as The Bay Cliff Development also intend to offer promotions to those who wish to purchase units.

“We may offer discounts, but we will still use high quality products for all our units. Since our condominiums are positioned in the luxury market, it is important we offer high end quality materials to our customers,” said Me Theeraphan.

The Privilege Residences Patong also have a plan for unsold units once all the buildings have been completed.

“We plan to make part of our condominium available for monthly or yearly rental. We will target foreigners who work in Phuket, especially hotel executives. We won’t rent out a lot though, because we know all of our customers are willing to pay for their privacy. We will try to keep it that way,” said Mr Theeraphan.