BUSINESS IN… Bangkok
Silom
Mandarin Oriental
Saphan Thaksin skytrain station
Peninsula Bangkok
Sirocco
financial district
Future urban renewal project
Shangri La
Chao Phraya Estate project, including Four Seasons and Capella
Expressway Chan Exit
Shrewsbury International School
Clockwise from above: Key sites; Chao Phraya Estate; Avani Bangkok Riverside exterior and interior; Yannawa Riverfront Project; Four Seasons
something of a hiatus, the big hotel brands are descending with a splash on the riverfront. David Robinson, director of Bangkok River Partners, a group formed to attract local and international business and tourism to Chao Phraya, says: “There’s been a couple of attempts at marketing the river as a destination, but this is the one that’s had the longest run. It was started by the luxury hotels here, between the Hilton and Sheraton down to the Anantara – so that includes the Millennium Hilton, Royal Orchid Sheraton, Mandarin Oriental, Peninsula, Shangri-La, Chatrium Hotel Riverside, Ramada Plaza Menam Riverside, and Anantara Riverside. “They started the project about
two-and-a-half years ago, and at that time the ambition was to promote the destination to the MICE [meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions] industry,” he says. “I advised them to broaden that out to make it a destination for leisure and tourism.”
46 NOVEMBER 2015
LANDMARK PROJECT Country Group’s US$1 billion Chao Phraya Estate project comprises three properties – Capella Bangkok, Four Seasons Bangkok and Four Seasons Private Residences – set on six hectares alongside Charoen Krung, the oldest road in Bangkok and an area steeped in history and cultural significance. According to the group, this was the Crown Property Bureau’s last remaining “golden site” on the river. “It’s very exciting to have the space in the city to do this,” says Richard Scott-Wilson, director of Hamiltons International, master planner for the project. [It’s] a piece of the city that hasn’t been touched for 30 years.” Due to open at the end of
2018, the 312-room Four Seasons hotel will boast some of the city’s largest suites, at 315 sqm, along with a 1,400 sqm ballroom on 200 metres of prime river frontage. The 73-storey residential tower has been designed so that all 355 units are corner-sited with views of the
river and city. The Capella will have 101 rooms and villas. Taechaubol says: “It’s meant to
be a waterfront lifestyle, which cannot be replicated again – meaningful luxury and timeless elegance are my descriptions.” More than 300 individual title negotiations took place over four years just to get the land required, he adds.
The company is backed by Chinese investment, mainly via the Export-Import Bank of China and sealed in a 2013 ceremony overseen by Chinese premier Li Keqiang and former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, with Beijing Construction Engineering Group installed as main contractor. At the group’s Hong Kong exhibition in mid- May, Country Group registered sales of 700 million baht (US$20 million), the highest amount ever for a luxury project in Bangkok, according to the South China Morning Post. At the front of Chao Phraya
Estate, a park and public walkway Visit
businesstraveller.com
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