ncr
22-11-06, 02:01 PM
Let's file this under "Buildings in Bangkok".
Sadly, the article doesn't detail the skyscraper plans....... :(
Anant back in a big way (http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/22Nov2006_biz39.php) - Bangkok Post, 22 November 2006
Bangkok Land founder to make Muang Thong Thani even bigger
CHAROEN KITTIKANYA
After keeping a low profile for years, property tycoon Anant Kanjanapas has re-emerged with a mission to invest 10 billion baht over the next two years to develop a luxury shopping complex, five-star hotel and high-end skyscraper at Muang Thong Thani. ''We have now fully recovered and are looking forward to expansion, after having kept our heads to the ground for many years,'' a lean and relaxed Mr Anant said yesterday at his first media appearance since 2004. ''Several projects are in the pipeline over the next several years.''
Mr Anant first entered the property business 16 years ago, developing condominiums on the vast site accumulated by his late father, Mongkol Kanjanapas, at Muang Thong Thani. At the time, Muang Thong Thani was touted as the largest single residential development of its kind in the world. Further expansion took place with the development of the Impact Exhibition and Convention Centre starting in 2000. Mr Anant's Bangkok Land has invested more than 25 billion baht in the two ventures, plus another five billion baht in The Challenger exhibition hall, the latest addition at Impact.
The scale of its ambitions also made Bangkok Land one of the bigger victims of the 1997 economic crisis. By 1999 its debts had reached 60 billion baht. Mr Anant said the company had been working ever since to chip away at the debt mountain, through asset disposal, a capital increase and land sales. Thankfully, the strong performance of Impact has helped the balance sheet. Sales from Impact are expected to reach two billion baht this year, with further growth of 50% next year helped by the opening of The Challenger.
Completed in October, The Challenger is the world's largest column-free exhibition centre with 60,000 square metres of space. It also boasts a lobby of more than 10,000 square metres, and the biggest and most extravagant ballroom in Asia, the Royal Jubilee Ballroom, at 3,500 square metres. In addition, there are 2,500 indoor parking spaces and another 25,000 outdoors. ''An international exhibition and convention centre was in fact my first vision for the Muang Thong Thani project,'' Mr Anant said yesterday. ''Even though Thailand is famous for hotel service, airlines and tourism spots, we still lack business, trade exhibition and convention centres that meet international standards.''
With promising sales prospects, Mr Anant said his company was financially strong enough to look for new expansion, particularly on the ''prime of the prime'' 1,000-rai site surrounding the lake at Muang Thong Thani. Funding for the new projects, which will include a 500-room luxury hotel, would come from cashflow - mostly from Impact - and probably land sales. ''Borrowing will be our last choice to fund the new investment,'' said Mr Anant, who pledged to clear all debts over the next few years.
''We still have a land bank left - about 1,000 rai in Muang Thong Thani and about 1,500 rai on Srinakarin Road. For future development, it would be more than enough if we put 100 rai up for sale at Srinakarin Road, plus our cashflow.'' Development plans for Srinakarin Road, he added, now hinged on a clearer direction from the government about land use near Suvarnabhumi Airport. ''A clearer investment plan for Srinakarin Road is likely over the next three years once we have fully utilised the existing 1,000 rai around the lake at Muang Thong Thani,'' he said. ''What I have been dreaming of is about to be fulfilled after many years of hardship.''
Sadly, the article doesn't detail the skyscraper plans....... :(
Anant back in a big way (http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/22Nov2006_biz39.php) - Bangkok Post, 22 November 2006
Bangkok Land founder to make Muang Thong Thani even bigger
CHAROEN KITTIKANYA
After keeping a low profile for years, property tycoon Anant Kanjanapas has re-emerged with a mission to invest 10 billion baht over the next two years to develop a luxury shopping complex, five-star hotel and high-end skyscraper at Muang Thong Thani. ''We have now fully recovered and are looking forward to expansion, after having kept our heads to the ground for many years,'' a lean and relaxed Mr Anant said yesterday at his first media appearance since 2004. ''Several projects are in the pipeline over the next several years.''
Mr Anant first entered the property business 16 years ago, developing condominiums on the vast site accumulated by his late father, Mongkol Kanjanapas, at Muang Thong Thani. At the time, Muang Thong Thani was touted as the largest single residential development of its kind in the world. Further expansion took place with the development of the Impact Exhibition and Convention Centre starting in 2000. Mr Anant's Bangkok Land has invested more than 25 billion baht in the two ventures, plus another five billion baht in The Challenger exhibition hall, the latest addition at Impact.
The scale of its ambitions also made Bangkok Land one of the bigger victims of the 1997 economic crisis. By 1999 its debts had reached 60 billion baht. Mr Anant said the company had been working ever since to chip away at the debt mountain, through asset disposal, a capital increase and land sales. Thankfully, the strong performance of Impact has helped the balance sheet. Sales from Impact are expected to reach two billion baht this year, with further growth of 50% next year helped by the opening of The Challenger.
Completed in October, The Challenger is the world's largest column-free exhibition centre with 60,000 square metres of space. It also boasts a lobby of more than 10,000 square metres, and the biggest and most extravagant ballroom in Asia, the Royal Jubilee Ballroom, at 3,500 square metres. In addition, there are 2,500 indoor parking spaces and another 25,000 outdoors. ''An international exhibition and convention centre was in fact my first vision for the Muang Thong Thani project,'' Mr Anant said yesterday. ''Even though Thailand is famous for hotel service, airlines and tourism spots, we still lack business, trade exhibition and convention centres that meet international standards.''
With promising sales prospects, Mr Anant said his company was financially strong enough to look for new expansion, particularly on the ''prime of the prime'' 1,000-rai site surrounding the lake at Muang Thong Thani. Funding for the new projects, which will include a 500-room luxury hotel, would come from cashflow - mostly from Impact - and probably land sales. ''Borrowing will be our last choice to fund the new investment,'' said Mr Anant, who pledged to clear all debts over the next few years.
''We still have a land bank left - about 1,000 rai in Muang Thong Thani and about 1,500 rai on Srinakarin Road. For future development, it would be more than enough if we put 100 rai up for sale at Srinakarin Road, plus our cashflow.'' Development plans for Srinakarin Road, he added, now hinged on a clearer direction from the government about land use near Suvarnabhumi Airport. ''A clearer investment plan for Srinakarin Road is likely over the next three years once we have fully utilised the existing 1,000 rai around the lake at Muang Thong Thani,'' he said. ''What I have been dreaming of is about to be fulfilled after many years of hardship.''