RETAIL PROPERTY
Developer turns focus to shopping centres
KE Land spends Bt600m on The Crystal
Residential developer KE Land will move into the retail property business by investing Bt600 million in a Bangkok shopping-centre project on Ekamai-Ram-Indra Road named The Crystal. KE Land managing director Kaveepan Eiamsakulrat said the new centre would be built on 15 rai (2.4 hectares), with retail space of 15,000 square metres. It will be completed by the end of next year. Kaveepan said having focused on premium single-detached housing developments for years in that area, KE Land recognised the need for a shopping centre there, because of strong local growth in new residential projects. "We believe our shopping centre will be successful at this location," he said. "Eighty per cent of its retail space has already been booked." The Crystal shopping centre will target families and people with a stylish lifestyle who live in the Ekamai, Lat Phrao and Ram-Indra areas, earn high monthly incomes and prefer an outstanding and relaxing shopping environment. It will also provide a new location for nearby residents to relax and dine out. The shopping centre will boast a supermarket, restaurants and patisseries, coffee shops, banks, boutiques, sporting-goods shops, electrical-appliance shops, beauty parlours and clinics, IT shops and language and music schools. It will also stage occasional events and expects about 8,000 customers on weekdays and more than 10,000 on Saturdays and Sundays. KE Land's first shopping centre follows its successful development of a Bt2-billion luxury housing project called The Crystal Park at the same location on Ekamai-Ram-Indra Road. Future plans include a second retail-shopping outlet on a 6.4-hectare site across the road from The Crystal. The new shopping area is tentatively being called CDC Park, for Crystal Design Centre Park, and will provide a showcase for up-market companies specialising in interiors, housing appliances and home supplies. Construction of the second retail project may begin next year, but Kaveepan declined to disclose how much KE Land expects to spend on it.
Somluck Srimalee The Nation
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