wowpow
July 20th, 2006, 08:37
"CentralWorld on course to claim crown as largest mall - Bangkok Post, June 9, 2006
CentralWorld will become the largest mixed-used shopping centre in Bangkok when it opens on July 21. About 85% of the lifestyle retail complex will be ready on that day, while the remaining areas, including Zen Department Store and a nearby zone, will be completed in December. ... CentralWorld has a total project space of 830,000 square metres, which comprises the shopping complex (550,000 sq m), a five-star hotel with 500 rooms, a convention centre over 17,000 sq m, a 45-storey office building covering 80,000 sq m and an indoor parking space for more than 7,000 vehicles.
The office tower has been completed while the convention centre is due for completion in 2006 and the hotel in 2008. Currently, the 15-billion-baht Siam Paragon, which is located next to Siam Discovery and Siam Centre in the Pathumwan area, has total space of 500,000 sq m."
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CPN optimistic over CentralWorld launch - Bangkok Post 20th July 2006 - UMESH PANDEY
Central Pattana Plc (CPN), one of Thailand's leading shopping-mall developers, remains confident in the growth prospects for the retail industry over the next few years, despite slowing consumer confidence in the economy.
''We are not too nervous about the decline in spending because when we build malls we are looking at the long term, and in Thailand's case, we tend to see a crisis every 10 years, although nothing as big as the one we experienced in 1997,'' said Kobchai Chirathivat, CPN president. CPN next week will formally open the 26-billion-baht CentralWorld mall in the heart of Bangkok, touted as the largest ''lifestyle'' complex in Southeast Asia.
The launch comes at a time of flagging consumer confidence due to high inflation, slow economic growth and political unrest. The University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce earlier this month announced that consumer confidence in June fell to a 50-month low.
But Mr Kobchai, speaking on Tuesday at a briefing at the Foreign Correspondents' Club, said he was confident that CentralWorld would be successful. ''When we invest, we take such economic downturns into consideration and have ways to survive. From what I have heard from my family members (who manage the Central Retail Corp, the retailing arm of the family's business), sales at Central have not declined,'' he said.
CentralWorld will be the latest addition to Bangkok's ''shopping street'' at the crowded Ratchaprasong intersection, which already boasts Siam Paragon, Siam Discovery and Siam Center, Gaysorn Plaza, Amarin Plaza and Peninsula Plaza.
Mr Kobchai said he believed that CentralWorld would complement Siam Paragon and other competitors, rather than cannibalise the same market.
He declined to comment on the recent purchase of a nine-rai plot by the Chirathivat family from the British Embassy, saying only that the new development would feature a hotel and retail space complementing the nearby Central Chidlom department store, the flagship of the Central Group. The purchase was reportedly made for a price of 950,000 baht per square wah, ranking as one of the most expensive property deals ever in Thailand."
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CentralWorld seem to be the re-vamped "Central World Plaza" previously known as The World Trade Center. There is a very swish new office building. I think they are just smartening up to compete with the other malls and stores along that stretch.
CentralWorld will become the largest mixed-used shopping centre in Bangkok when it opens on July 21. About 85% of the lifestyle retail complex will be ready on that day, while the remaining areas, including Zen Department Store and a nearby zone, will be completed in December. ... CentralWorld has a total project space of 830,000 square metres, which comprises the shopping complex (550,000 sq m), a five-star hotel with 500 rooms, a convention centre over 17,000 sq m, a 45-storey office building covering 80,000 sq m and an indoor parking space for more than 7,000 vehicles.
The office tower has been completed while the convention centre is due for completion in 2006 and the hotel in 2008. Currently, the 15-billion-baht Siam Paragon, which is located next to Siam Discovery and Siam Centre in the Pathumwan area, has total space of 500,000 sq m."
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CPN optimistic over CentralWorld launch - Bangkok Post 20th July 2006 - UMESH PANDEY
Central Pattana Plc (CPN), one of Thailand's leading shopping-mall developers, remains confident in the growth prospects for the retail industry over the next few years, despite slowing consumer confidence in the economy.
''We are not too nervous about the decline in spending because when we build malls we are looking at the long term, and in Thailand's case, we tend to see a crisis every 10 years, although nothing as big as the one we experienced in 1997,'' said Kobchai Chirathivat, CPN president. CPN next week will formally open the 26-billion-baht CentralWorld mall in the heart of Bangkok, touted as the largest ''lifestyle'' complex in Southeast Asia.
The launch comes at a time of flagging consumer confidence due to high inflation, slow economic growth and political unrest. The University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce earlier this month announced that consumer confidence in June fell to a 50-month low.
But Mr Kobchai, speaking on Tuesday at a briefing at the Foreign Correspondents' Club, said he was confident that CentralWorld would be successful. ''When we invest, we take such economic downturns into consideration and have ways to survive. From what I have heard from my family members (who manage the Central Retail Corp, the retailing arm of the family's business), sales at Central have not declined,'' he said.
CentralWorld will be the latest addition to Bangkok's ''shopping street'' at the crowded Ratchaprasong intersection, which already boasts Siam Paragon, Siam Discovery and Siam Center, Gaysorn Plaza, Amarin Plaza and Peninsula Plaza.
Mr Kobchai said he believed that CentralWorld would complement Siam Paragon and other competitors, rather than cannibalise the same market.
He declined to comment on the recent purchase of a nine-rai plot by the Chirathivat family from the British Embassy, saying only that the new development would feature a hotel and retail space complementing the nearby Central Chidlom department store, the flagship of the Central Group. The purchase was reportedly made for a price of 950,000 baht per square wah, ranking as one of the most expensive property deals ever in Thailand."
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CentralWorld seem to be the re-vamped "Central World Plaza" previously known as The World Trade Center. There is a very swish new office building. I think they are just smartening up to compete with the other malls and stores along that stretch.