sukhumvit mall right on target

Phuket Square, operator of Jungceylon Shopping Destination, expects to receive Bt50 million per year from managing retail space in Millennium Mall.

The company has spent Bt250 million to construct the mall, which is part of the Millennium Residence luxury condominium in Sukhumvit Soi 20 in Bangkok.

It will start leasing out retail space next month, and the mall is scheduled to open in November 2009, said Phuket Square CEO Prawit Janyasittikul.

Chief marketing officer Tassanee Tepprasertvangsa said Phuket Square planned to realise revenue of Bt50 million a year from retail tenants.

Millennium Mall, which is now under construction, will have six storeys, with the three top floors rented out as offices and the three lower ones as a community mall.

"We want to use space as efficiently as we can. The return from this model is better than doing only a three-storey community mall," Prawit said.

The mall will target white-collar workers and foreigners, especially Japanese working in the area. The company believes its success is founded on retail-management experience and finding good locations, he added.

Tassanee said Jungceylon, which opened two years ago in Phuket, would increase tenants' rents at the shopping mall 5 per cent in next year's fourth quarter. Contracts with tenants stipulate that rents will increase 5 per cent every three years.

Occupancy of the mall's retail space is expected to reach 90 per cent next year, from 70-80 per cent now.

Phuket Square has approached Singaporean investors about installing an amusement park in the mall.

The company has targeted revenue of Bt500 million this year, up 25 per cent from Bt400 million last year. Revenue is expected to grow 10 per cent next year.