New trends community malls add to homebuyers choices

The community concept is a new trend among property projects at a time of high com¬petition and constantly changing customer lifestyles, property experts said.

However, many property devel¬opers have changed their strategy from developing residential projects to developing combined projects that include residences, community malls and commercial areas.

Property company KE Land, which developed The Crystal, a detachedhousing project on Ramindra Road, has also developed a community residential project by combining its residential project with a community mall.

TCC Land, the property arm of beverage tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, also plans to develop 230 acres of land on KasetNawamin Road into an intergrated township, combining a community mall, commercial area and residential units.

TCC Land director Soammaphat Traisorat said lifestyle changes among homebuyers have forced developers to change strategy.

"We don't develop residential projects alone. Instead, we develop communities that provide more facilities to our customers," he said.

The project will also have a com¬munity mall managed by TescoLotus.

Pacific Star International (Thailand) has launched its second residential project at Thong Lor Soi 8, called Eight Thonglor Residences, which are mixeduse buildings, together worth Bt4 billion.

Following the new trend of devel¬oping residences and community centres together, community malls accounted for 44 per cent of new retail supply in Bangkok in the first half of the year.

These malls are second only to shopping malls that accounted for about 49 per cent of all new retail spaces in Bangkok, research by Colliers International Thailand showed.