Central Festival Shopping Mall Almost Completed

Central Festival Pattaya Beach

Central Festival Shopping Centre is still under construction in Pattaya. Completion is expected at year-end 2008. It will be one of the largest beach-front shopping complexes in Asia. It will have some 240,000 sq meter mixed-use development with more than 200 leading international shops and restaurants, in a 12-storey shopping mall. Also included is a 25 lane bowling alley, a 10-screen cinema and a 3,000 sq meter supermarket.

Hilton Hotel Pattaya Beach

The Hilton Pattaya Beach will be a 29-storey hotel, with 300 rooms. The 25th floor will serve as Pattaya's first premium sky-restaurant overlooking Pattaya Bay

Shopping Mall Next Door

Construction Update

Went for a walk along Pattaya Beach today. I wanted to take a look at the large shopping mall they are building next to View Talay 6, and take a few photos. Construction of Central World Pattaya has now reached a height of more than 50% the height of the View Talay 6 condominium building - and still growing.

Building Separation

I took a few photos from the beach side of the road and then crossed to take a shot showing the separation between the south-side of Central World Pattaya and the north-side of View Talay 6. As I mentioned in my previous post, this separation seems to be very small, and I wanted to get a shot to illustrate this.

No Photos!

Was a little surprised when site security guards started yelling at me. "No photo". I ignored them, squeezed off a few shots, and kept walking. Couldn't help wondering why they were so jumpy though.

Could it be that the separation is below legal requirement, and the developers want to minimise attention until the construction is completed - when it's too late for a complaint to reach the courts and stop construction?

Will post photos here as soon as I can get them uploaded.

A Dirty Great Big Shopping Mall Next Door

View? What View?

Almost two years ago I heard about a new condominium project on Pattaya Beach. I was working in Trinidad at the time. A few months later, I was able to get back here to Pattaya and I looked into buying a unit in View Talay 6. But I was too late, sales had been brisk. All the "good ones" at the front - Beach Road - had already been sold. I could have had one at the back - Second Road - but decided against it. After all, what is the point in paying beach-front condo prices to buy a condo that is facing away from the beach?

At the time I was a little disappointed, but I found something else which is likely a better investment. I'll post more on that later. They say that things happen for a reason, and now I thank Buddha for my good fortune! At the time they were selling units in View Talay 6, there was an big empty plot of land on each side of the condo building. Obviously these plots were too valuable not to be developed, and something would go there. Anyone with half a brain could see that. But nobody knew exactly what would be built, or when. Or if they did, they were not telling.

The plot of land to the south - Walking Street side - is still undeveloped. No news yet as to any planned construction.

But the land to the north - Naklua side - they a building a monster. A dirty great big shopping mall. It will be a "Central World" as in Bangkok. They are calling it Central World Pattaya. They are billing it as a great project for Pattaya. Upscale shopping comes to Pattaya.

So what you say. Having a shopping mall next door might be convenient. Maybe three or four floors, no problem... But;

• The bloody thing is already half-way up View Talay 6, and they are still building.
• The ramp for the multi-storey car-park is on the south-side of the mall, and there is only a few metres of separation between the mall and the condominium building. So drivers will be able to look into the north-side View Talay 6 condos as they drive up and down, will be able to wave to the occupants of the condos.
• And on top of the mall, there will be a Hilton Hotel.
• And on top of the Hilton Hotel, there will be a restaurant.

Higher Than View Talay 6

In my opinion, what with the mall, the hotel, and the restaurant, the whole concoction will be higher than View Talay 6. Additionally, it's important to note that View Talay 6 is set back from beach-road. But the mall is much closer to the road, and the hotel will be perched on top of the mall towards the front. So it is likely that there will not be any beach-view from any of the north-side View Talay 6 units.

So I thank Buddha I did not buy in View Talay 6, as 50% of the units will have a view of a car-park. And we don't know yet about the other 50%. I feel sorry for the guys that did purchase units, and to try to sell right now would be difficult. Property sales throughout Thailand have been generally slow since last year.

Buyer beware!