‘Asiatique the Riverfront’ goes bigger

BANGKOK- When ‘Asiatique the Riverfront’ opened in early 2012, the new shopping attraction made a small revolution. For the first time in Thailand mall history, a retail concept was getting open-air, integrating historical warehouses reconverted into a shopping and lifestyle centre. At time, the real estate managing company of Asiatique, ‘Riverside Masterplan Co’ was all praised about its commitment to retain the historical flavour of the area and works on community’s sustainability…

But greed finally spoke out stronger than “community compassion” and a few days ago, ‘Riverside Masterplan Co.’ announced to expand its Asiatique concept across the Chao Praya River on the Thonburi side.

The project will look more “Bangkok-style” with high-rise condominiums, a hotel and the unavoidable shopping mall offering the same brands than its neighbour… Potentially, a cable car would make the link between both Asiatique over the River. The project is estimated to cost THB 2 to 3 billion (US$ 75 to US$ 100 million).

The success of Asiatique “version 1” has been considerable: the riverside leisure and shopping district is visited every day by 30,000 to 40,000 visitors. In its first year of operation, it generated a turnover of over US$ 100 million in spending…

The success of Asiatique is bringing further ideas to other real estate companies. Siam Piwat, which operates Siam Center and Siam Discovery, is now looking to develop a fancy shopping mall and condominiums across the Mandarin Oriental on the Chao Praya River. More developments are likely to follow.

Sourced: TravelDaliyNews