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Published on August 24, 2007

Just as speculators are fleeing Pattaya, partly because of fears of a negative fallout from the amended Foreign Business Act, one developer has decided to stick around for the long term and double its exposure.

Raimon Land, which over the past two years scored with two popular projects -Northshore on Beach Road Soi 5 and Northpoint at Wong Amat Beach - has recently acquired two big plots to construct more high-rise residential projects.

The company recently raised Bt350 million from Lehman Brothers to construct "Northpoint II", located next to the first Northpoint, and "The Lofts Southshore", on Pratmnak Road in South Pattaya.

Northpoint II is being built on a seven-rai plot and will have 350 units when completed in 2010.

"It will be an upscale project estimated to be worth Bt3 billion when completed, said Raimon Land CEO Nigel Cornick.

Meanwhile, The Lofts Southshore is being constructed on a 6.5-rai plot and is valued at Bt4.5 billion. The completion date is also around 2010.

This project is special in that it is specifically targeting the middle market, one that Cornick says the company is eager to tap.

"We found that 80 per cent of our visitors at Northpoint could not afford our condominiums," he said. "But we had nothing in the Bt2-million range."

As a result, the firm scouted for land when prices started easing last year after a bout of heavy speculation over the past three to four years. Many of the punters were foreign, and many of them quickly exited when things turned ugly.

But Raimon is a long-term player that sees much potential in the beach town, which could be much better managed.

But because of inadequate infrastructure to deal with a population boom over the past decade, everything from road works to public works are, at best, confounding and messy.

Mass tourism has certainly gone a long way to tarnishing an already shaky image.

Still, where there's muck, there's money. Pattaya still brings in more tourist dollars than other resort towns, even with the greenback losing some of its lustre.

To be sure, Pattaya has seen many boom-bust cycles. By the time the next boom comes along in three or four years, Raimon should be well placed to ride it.

For the mid-end Southshore project, Raimon will offer 30-square-metre studios from an entry price of Bt1.8 million. Its overall floor space is expected to fetch an average of Bt70,000, said Cornick, as the higher floors will be commanding much higher prices.

In all, Southshore will have 850 units, contained in two towers - one 35 floors and the other 50.

It does not have a private beach, but has good sea views.

Southshore's amenities, including its swimming pool, sun deck and sports facilities, are to be located atop a massive podium shared by the towers.

Itthi C Tan

The Nation

PATTAYA