Bangkok--Mar 15--CB Richard Ellis
Silom Road is experiencing a revival as a retail location. Despite the growth of shopping centres, “street frontage” retail premises are enjoying considerable success in certain locations in Bangkok such as Silom Road, according to Ms. Asharawan Wachananont, Director of Retail Services at CB Richard Ellis (Thailand) Co., Ltd.
The key to the revival has been the provision of modern street frontage retail premises that are attractive to both retail operators and customers.
Over the last few years, retail developers have focused on shopping centres, particularly large magnet sites such as Siam Paragon and smaller neighbourhood centres. Recently there has been a revival of street frontage locations in certain high income, high pedestrian flow locations.
Silom Road is a great example of this revival.
The stretch of Silom Road between the Dusit Thani Hotel and the United Centre is one of Bangkok’s few “high street” locations, enjoying a high income pedestrian flow.
This area has had its position further reinforced by its emergence as a transport hub, being one of the two locations that the MRTA underground train intersects with the BTS skytrain.
It therefore continues to be a major business and entertainment location with as almost 24 hour pedestrian flow.
Property owners have responded to the improved attractiveness of the location by renovating their buildings to match the demands of the modern retail operator and consumer.
Zuellig House number 1 Silom Road has been fully refurbished, the building being stripped back to the structure and fully renovated with a new fa?ade and all new systems.
The ground floor contains seven retail units which have been leased to retailers such as Boots, Bank of Ayudhaya and AIIZ, the local fashion House.
The attractiveness of the building to tenants was its position as the gateway to Silom Road, situated between the MRTA underground station and BTS skytrain station, and the modern image of the building. Zuellig House is now complete and retail tenants have commenced fitting out.
Another example is the refurbishment of the Thaniya Building on the opposite side of Silom Road.
The developer is undertaking major refurbishment work on the building, converting the lower three floors into retail outlets with a direct bridge access to the Saladaeng BTS Skytrain station from the second and third floor. “This is like having three floors of street frontage because of the amount of people using the Saladaeng station,” according to Ms. Asharawan.
CB Richard Ellis is the sole agent for the building and has already received a large number of enquiries. “We expect that the building will be complete in the second quarter of 2005.”
The traditional shophouse is now obsolete as tenants do not wish to use the upper floors. The most valuable space is the ground floor with street frontage and good visibility.
CB Richard Ellis expects that more older commercial buildings along Silom Road will be refurbished and renovated to increase their attractiveness to tenants.
Another area with high potential is Sukhumvit, between the Expressway and Soi Asoke. This area already has several five star hotels including the Sheraton Grande and the Westin.
A new four star property, the Majestic Grande, has just been completed, while the new Sofitel is under construction, and plans have been announced to construct a Regent hotel.
This area of Bangkok will thereby have one of the densest concentrations of tourists in Bangkok, further increasing its retail potential.
Ms. Asharawan expects that owners of some of the older commercial buildings will look at either refurbishment or, as in the case of Nana Square, demolish the old shophouses and build a new modern plaza.
Ultimately, the key to creating a high street atmosphere is a high income high pedestrian flow, with attractive shop fronts to encourage customers to walk along the street.
CB Richard Ellis sees a promising future for both the Silom and Sukhumvit areas and the potential for this trend to spread, particularly to locations in the immediate vicinity of BTS or MRTA stations.
For further information:
Mr. James Pitchon
Executive Director
02 654 1111
Ms. Ashrawan Wachananont
Director — Head of Retail Services
02 654 1111
Ms. Ngamjai Jearrajarat
Corporate Communications Manager
02 654 1111 Ext. 522 End.