GlenAsia Steps Up Resort Development

After spending three billion baht in the eastern resort market over the past three years, the Thai-Swedish developer GlenAsia plans to spend at least 800 million baht to develop two resorts on Koh Samui and Koh Phangan, according to executive director Per Olov Ragfelt. He said the company was poised to acquire a 30-rai hillside plot on Koh Samui priced at six to seven million baht per rai to build resort villas. The project would target foreigners seeking second homes in a beach destination.

On Koh Phangan, it would develop a resort and four- to five-star hotel on a beachfront plot sized between six and 11 rai this year, said Mr Ragfelt.In the next six months, the company would start phase one construction on a residential project on an 11-rai plot near the Eastern Star Golf Course in Rayong. The phase would comprise townhouses priced from 3.5 million to four million baht a unit.

The company yesterday announced a new project, GlenAsia Resort & Residence Bang Saray, worth two billion baht. It will be located on a 10-rai beachfront site in Bang Saray, Chon Buri.

The project will have 140 condominium units priced at 70,000 baht per square metre and sized between 45 and 500 square metres. Construction would be completed in October 2010, he said.

”We will have roadshows in Hong Kong, Russia, Sweden, Singapore and Korea in June to September this year,” said Mr Ragfelt.

According to Colliers International Thailand, the project’s sole agent, statistics from the Tourism Authority of Thailand showed an increase of 17.4% in Scandinavian tourists throughout the past five years with 757,734 visitors in 2007.

These tourists flocked Thailand’s top destinations including beachfront areas in the South and the Eastern Seaboard. Bang Saray was perceived as one of the most sought-after locations for the targeted customers.

GlenAsia was established in October 2005 by HSH Prince Ticomporn Yugala, Mr Ragfelt and other Thai partners. It has developed three projects: in Bang Saray worth two billion baht, Ban Pae worth 1.5 billion baht and Jomtien worth 500 million baht.