CI allotting B1.9bn for Cha-am site

SET-listed Charn Issara Development Plc (CI) plans to spend a combined 1.9 billion baht to develop a new hotel, condominium and community mall in Cha-am, plus 2 billion baht to buy land plots in Bangkok for future launches.

Assistant managing director Ditawat Issara said the investment in Cha-am will be for new phases at Thew Talay Estate, a compound of holiday residential projects on a 110-rai site on Phetkasem Road at Cha-am Beach in Phetchaburi province.

“Since starting development five years ago, we see a clearer picture of the project and our main target group,” Mr Ditawat said. “For a large-scale project, design should be adjustable as the plot is huge.”

Of the total, 800 million baht will go towards developing an 11-storey hotel with 50 rooms on an eight-rai site, due to be open by 2020.

Some 100 million baht will go towards building 10 villas, which will be sold and rented back in a rental pool programme.

On a 10-rai plot on the main road, the company will spend 300 million baht to develop a community mall with a designed gas station to support guests and residents during Thew Talay Estate’s early phases as well as visitors passing by.

There will also be a timesharing condo project with an investment of 700 million baht, for which the company is carrying out a feasibility study.

“Timesharing is new for us,” Mr Ditawat said. “We are studying and designing a programme that will fit with our hotels as well as target customers. It should be finalised by the third quarter. This year we will focus on the Cha-am project to develop it as a family-based destination.”

Thew Talay Estate is a joint venture project established by CI and two companies under Thailand’s largest conglomerate Sahapat Group, comprising I.C.C. International Plc, the marketing arm for fashion and cosmetics of Saha Group, Thailand’s biggest consumer goods conglomerate.

There are four completed projects at Thew Talay Estate: three condo sites and a villa project with sales rates of 97%, 75%, 50% and 70% respectively.

CI shares closed yesterday on the SET at 1.64 baht, unchanged, in trade worth 1.09 million baht.