Sorapoj Techakraisri, scion of a major property player, is combining his financial expertise and love of development to strike out on his own in the Bangkok condominium market.

Sorapoj, 28, whose father Yupa is the executive director of LPN Development, has set up Cinkara Ltd to launch his first luxury-condo project on Sukhumvit Soi 44/1.

After graduating in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in business administration from Thammasat University's international programme, majoring in finance and minoring in marketing, Sorapoj worked as a junior analyst at Cathay Asset Management Co Ltd for about 10 months.

Then he extended his interest to marketing by joining NFO (Thailand) Co Ltd as a marketing research analyst.

He next enrolled in the one-year executive trainee programme at Maersk (Thailand) Co Ltd, a leading global logistics company, to learn the ropes in general management.

Besides being the managing director of Cinkara, Sorapoj is also the executive director of family-owned Baan Kalapapluek Co Ltd, which is building a 42-unit, single family home estate on Srinakarin Road.

"I have been quite familiar with real estate since I was young," Sorapoj said.

"Real estate is a business that is quite risky, and what I have done is apply my financial skills to managing that risk," he said.

Cinkara's Ficus Lane, a 70-unit, low-rise, contemporary-style condo complex on a three-rai site, has met with an overwhelming response, thanks to its convenient location: a Skytrain station is only about 250 metres away, and both Sukhumvit and Rama IV roads are easily accessible. Condo prices start at Bt78,000 per square metre.

"Worth over Bt880 million, our Ficus Lane project has been developed to be different and outstanding and to serve the new modern lifestyle of urban customers. We have got a good response from our target customers, and more than 90 per cent of the condo units have already been sold, which is better than we expected," Sorapoj said.

"We are confident in the strong potential and financial stability of the company in developing all premium real-estate projects even though the competition in this luxury segment is quite intense," he said.

Buoyed by the success of Ficus Lane, Cinkara is now considering many real-estate projects focused on upper-end home-buyers, as they still enjoy strong purchasing power and are more immune to the struggling economy.

Unlike other projects in town, Cinkara will target the niche market of urbanites.

"We are now ready to expand into new real estate projects set to target niche customers with modern lifestyles, and those will be located in prime areas in the heart of Bangkok or along Skytrain routes," he said.

About Bt1 billion will be injected into Cinkara's new 100-unit condo project to be started in the first quarter next year in the central business district.

All of the company's real-estate projects will be outstanding in terms of construction quality, materials, professional management and quality of living and environment, he said.

"We would like to create a unique project, which is different from those of our competitors and a new choice for our customers," he said, adding that he was also interested in the development of new businesses such as hotels and serviced apartments.

"Despite uncertain economic and political situations as well as the price of oil, I still believe in the future of real-estate projects with good locations and reasonable pricing. Today consumers still have strong purchasing power.

"The government has a policy of allowing foreigners to buy housing units here. This will broaden the customer base for the real-estate market in Thailand," Sorapoj added.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation