Asiatique leads TCC's B12.2bn splash

Asiatique leads TCC's B12.2bn splash

Cable car over river to link old, new phases

TCC Land, a property company owned by liquor tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, plans to spend 12.2 billion baht to revamp existing malls and expand new retail businesses and hotels over five years.

Thais and foreign tourists celebrate the New Year at Asiatique the Riverfront, which is up for a major expansion including a first-ever cable car spanning the Chao Phraya River. Pattarachai Preechapanich

The biggest investment, 8 billion baht, is slated for three new phases of Asiatique, with two located near Asiatique the Riverfront on Charoen Krung Road and another on Charoen Nakhon Road across the Chao Phraya River, said Napat Charoenkul, managing director of the company's retail group.

Asiatique phase two will sit on a 16-rai site now used as a parking lot for the three-year-old Asiatique.

With a budget of 3 billion baht, the new phase will be completed in mid-2015 and include a hotel, convention centre and retail space.

Asiatique has seen 25,000 to 30,000 visitors on weekdays and 40,000 to 50,000 on weekend days, surpassing targets of 15,000 and 20,000 respectively, Mr Napat said yesterday.

"The number of visitors dropped during the political problems but has recovered to the usual level," he said. "The October figure was up 25% from the same month last year."

On festival days such as Songkran, Loy Krathong and New Year's Eve, the visitor count soars as high as 200,000.

Phase two will complement phase one with family restaurants, women's fashion and branded products.

At least four hotels will be added for phases three and four. The Charoen Nakhon and Charoen Krung sides will be linked by a first-ever cable car spanning the Chao Phraya.

New retail investments will include an expansion of Asiatique under the Asiatique Prime brand in Pattaya and Hua Hin, where the company has plots of 15 rai each.

The investment budget for Asiatique Prime will run about 1 billion baht.

By the end of 2016, the company will spend 2.5 billion baht to develop a Gateway community mall in a suburban Bangkok area with no nearby competition from Central or The Mall Group.

While Asiatique, a mall with no direct access to any mass transit station, has met success, two of the company's retail centres need a major revamp.

They are Digital Gateway Siam Square, an IT shopping centre near Siam skytrain station, and Gateway Ekamai, a community mall near Ekamai skytrain station.

TCC Land will spend 500 million baht to overhaul the 20,000-square-metre Gateway Ekamai as a combination community mall and shopping centre, adding more cosmetics shops and spas.

Some 150 million baht will go to refurbish and rebrand the 4,000-sq-m Digital Gateway as Center Point of Siam Square.

The environment, shops and target visitors will centre on beauty and fashion because the current information technology theme does not fit the lifestyle of teenaged visitors to Siam Square.

The company expects revenue from Asiatique phases one and two, the new Gateway and Center Point of Siam Square to hit 1.2 billion baht in 2015 and reach 2 billion within the next five years, up from 400 million last year.

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