Fulcrum Ventures, a joint venture property firm comprised of a Thai investor and Singaporean investment group, is focused on low-rise housing projects in Bangkok as it freezes a new hotel development in Phuket because of the pandemic.
Somsakd Srikuruwan, director at Fulcrum, said the pandemic has levelled the hospitality sector, the company's main business.
All three of its Thai hotels -- the Grand Swiss Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 11, Aspira Koh Samui and Art Patong in Phuket -- have been closed.
"We hope to reopen our hotels early next year, starting with the Grand Swiss as foreign tourists are likely to return to Bangkok first," he said.
The company also has two serviced apartments in Bangkok and Phuket. The latter was temporarily closed because of a slump in Phuket's tourism sector, while a property on Soi Ekamai could boost occupancy rates from a single digit to 40-50%, as tenants relocate there.
Mr Somsakd said the company froze an investment of around 550 million baht for the development of a new hotel on Patong Beach in Phuket.
This project will be delayed to 2022 as the tourism market is expected to fully recover in the next couple of years.
Despite the tourism market downturn, the company was in negotiations with the owner of a three-star, eight-storey 80-room hotel in Pattaya for acquisition.
"Fortunately, we started exploring the low-rise housing market two years ago and launched a project in March 2020, a week before the lockdown," he said.
The project was Panara Thepharak, a single detached house project worth 1.35 billion baht on 29 rai on Thepharak Road with a total of 129 units, priced 6.8-15 million baht a unit.
Despite the outbreak, the company has been able to close sales for the first phase with 44 units worth 275 million baht.
Mihai Olteanu, head of sales and business development at Singaporean investment group Greenfield Advisory, a co-investor in Fulcrum, said the group is continuing investments in Thailand, with plans to launch two low-rise projects in Lat Krabang and Bang Bo worth 2 billion baht each next year.
"We saw opportunities in Bangkok's eastern zone, where housing demand is strong, driven by the industrial sector in the location," he said. "The Eastern Economic Corridor should help boost further growth."
Founded in 2009, Greenfield Advisory has invested in the hospitality business, oil and gas, textiles, uniforms, food and beverage and residential development in India, the United Arab Emirates, UK, Switzerland and Thailand. Investment in Thailand accounts for only 10%.