Bangkok--11 Sep--MasterMind Communications
CP Land Reveals Office Building & Shopping Centre Management Plan in Preparation for AEC, Builds Rental Office Buildings in Major Cities, Renovates Bangkok Buildings to Add Values and Achieve THB 1bn in Annual Revenue from 3 Main CP Tower Buildings at Silom, Fortune Town & Phayathai
CP Land showed its business plan for the office building sector in preparation for Thailand’s AEC participation, seeking to build office buildings in major provincial cities to take advantage of the local business booms and using its strategically located property in Bangkok, especially CP Tower I (Silom), CP Tower II (Fortune Town) and CP Tower III (Phayathai), which are well-linked with transport systems, as the drivers for robust corporate growth. Through renovation, the company will enable its aggregate annual revenue to reach THB 1bn.
Mr Sunthorn Arunanondchai, President & CEO of CP Land Plc, casted a positive outlook of his firm’s office building and shopping centre businesses in Thailand over the next three years, expressing his confidence that the demand for rental space will rise due to foreigners’ increased interests in having their offices in Bangkok and other major cities in the country in the wake of the formation of the Asean Economic Community, or AEC, of which Thailand will become a key member in 2015. According to him, the foreign firms are attracted by Thailand’s good infrastructure as well as its ambition to become the region’s commercial and investment hub.
“Thailand is strategically located in the centre of South East Asia, and it is fully prepared to serve as the regional hub, thanks to corporate tax privileges, which are attracting international firms’ interests in building their offices here, as well as the government’s decentralisation policy and transport development projects. These will drive the demand for rental space to go higher. Especially in the major provincial cities, we see a very high growth potential”, he said.
CP Land, he added, has invested in property for rent in the form of office buildings and shopping centres in the core business districts, or CBDs, of Bangkok and elsewhere in Thailand, as well as in property for sale, which, as of now, consists of over 5 600 units of residential condominiums and housing developments in 16 provinces in every regions of the country. In addition, the figure will be improved from year to year.
Mr Somkiat Ruentongdee, CP Land’s Executive Vice President, commented that his company’s three-year investment plan focuses not only on residential development in the provincial areas but also on development of office buildings and shopping centres in major cities with high potentials for economic growths, e.g. Khon Kaen, Phitsanulok, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Udon Thani, Nakhon Ratchasima, etc. to imitate the successes of the CP Tower Khon Kaen I and II office buildings. Six- to ten-storey office buildings will be built in the business districts that offer convenient transportation. He said that CP Land aims to tap the demand for office buildings among prospective customers in the provinces who seek to impress and win trusts from their business partners, enjoy a convenient work environment. The trend will be that many business firms will abandon shophouse offices and move into modern full facilities office buildings.
“The offices-for-rent market in the major provincial cities is very promising. It represents a great opportunity to invest more in this segment tapping into the sound expansion in the provincial economy. We see a wonderful opportunity to earn more rental revenue from developing office buildings for rent in many provinces”, noted he.
He went on by saying that CP Land’s office buildings in Bangkok, the country's economic hub, are also generating impressive results along the line with rental office buildings of all grades in both the CBD and non CBD areas which providing the total space of 4.6 million sq m and over 90% in occupancy rate, having per sq m rental rates that are increasing every year. For Bangkok shopping centres, the available space is over 5.9 million sq m and the occupancy rate is over 95%, he said.
Mr Salya Mulasastra, CP Land’s Vice President of Facility Management, highlighted the company’s intention to exploit the growth momentum of the Bangkok office building market by touting its three main office building/shopping centre complexes, namely, CP Tower I (Silom), CP Tower II (Fortune Town) and CP Tower III (Phayathai), which are located in the capital city’s commercial districts, well-linked to public transportation and managed by CP Land’s experienced building management teams who have over 25 years of experience in this field.
CP Land has undergone renovation and modernisation of the three buildings. While CP Tower II (Fortune Town), which consists of the office and retail shopping sections, has been upgraded to cater to the ongoing formation of a new business and financial district along Ratchadaphisek Road, two skywalks have been built to link CP Tower III (Phayathai) to the Phayathai BTS and Airport-link skytrain stations. This has increases the number of customers flow into the building. In addition, by the end of this year, the rental retail areas of CP Tower I (Silom) will also be renovated to make them meet the expectation of the customers.
“We are confident that these three buildings, where the office and retail space are 100% occupied, will be generating constant rental revenue for us. The rental rates will also keep rising in the future, which will enable our firm to achievement future revenue growths. We expect that these three assets in aggregation will generate at least THB 1 billion in annual revenue”, noted he.