Construction Archives

Just off the shore from South Beach, Fisher Island offers total seclusion to roughly 800 families

Fisher Island is only 7 minutes by ferry from Miami, but the 216-acre island is worlds away from South Beach. Perhaps that is because its history is so unique. In 1905, to provide better seaport access, Miami cut through the barrier island that today is known as Miami Beach. This created an island that business tycoon Carl Fisher purchased in 1919 but traded to William K. Vanderbilt II in 1925 in exchange for Vanderbilt’s 265-foot yacht. After Vanderbilt died in 1944, the island—on which Vanderbilt had commissioned famed architect Maurice Fatio to build him a Mediterranean-style compound—changed hands until development began in the 1980s. Today, about 800 families from more than 40 different countries inhabit this uber-private oasis, where life revolves around the Fisher Island Club, which opened in 1987 on the site of the Vanderbilt Mansion. Residents—a mix of highflying CEOs and entrepreneurs—drive around in golf carts, send their children to the Fisher Island Day School (which offers Mandarin classes) and use amenities such as the community’s own medical clinic and safety department.

Event of the year

The Yacht Rendezvous, which benefits the Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County, is one of the world’s biggest annual superyacht social gatherings. Each fall, guests spend three days participating in events such as yacht open houses and a silent auction. More than $30 million has been raised in its 32 years.

Advice for the buyer

Know what scenery you want: Residences facing the Atlantic Ocean have expansive vistas during the day but no view at night; city-facing units don’t look out at the ocean but they do enjoy a city skyline and a Biscayne Bay view.

Membership to have

Belonging to the Fisher Island Club isn’t a requirement for residents, but if you aren’t a member, you won’t have access to the club’s facilities, including a beach club with a private beach.

Notable stops

The Fisher Island Hotel and Resort

This 15 room boutique hotel is made up of courtyard villas, 1930s-era cottages and guesthouse suites that near the Vanderbilt Mansion.

The Fisher Island Aviary

William K. Vanderbilt II loved tropical birds, and this 800-square-foot sanctuary is an ode to his passion. It houses more than 15 exotic winged animals, ranging from cockatoos and cockatiels to macaws and Amazons.

The Vanderbilt Theater

The adaptable event space is a hub of activity, hosting everything from concerts to lectures to movie nights.

Victor Arsidi Observatory

On its own tiny island across a wooden bridge, this sky-viewing hideaway was built in 1990. The white stucco building has a custom silver Ash Dome and professional telescope equipment, including a 4-inch refractor scope and a 14-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain.

Listings

$5.7 million

At 3,690 square feet with South Beach views, this residence in a concierge building with 29 units. The master suite’s bathroom has two vanities and a separate tub and shower; the closet has built-ins. There are marble floors, Miele kitchen appliances, and Baccarat lighting. Outside, there is a terrace. The unit comes with two parking spaces, one golf cart, a golf cart space, and a large private storage unit. Agent: Elena Bluntzer, One Sotheby’s International Realty.

More Listings Here

via@mansionglobal

January 10, 2020ZONEZI No commentsConstruction, Marketing|News, News

Chalong Underpass makes breakthrough

PHUKET: The tunnel that will become the Chalong Underpass has now been fully excavated and the construction engineer for the project still hopes that the underpass will be open to traffic in April.

Somkiet Yimpong, Project Manager at the Phuket office of the Highways Department, told The Phuket News yesterday (Feb 15) that the tunnel breakthrough came in late January.

Works on installing the panelling along the walls of the underpass have already begun, he said.

“We still have to install all the fume-extraction fans, noise dampers, water pumps, lights and other things, but overall right now the construction project stands at 76% complete,” Mr Somkiet said.

Mr Somkiet still hopes for the underpass to open to traffic in April, but might miss the previously hoped for opening before Songkran.

“Once all the systems are installed we will have to go through the testing phase, but hopefully this will be all done before the end of April,’ he said.

Meanwhile, the structure that now sits in the middle of what used to be Chalong Circle is nearly complete.

Construction of the tower is on schedule to be complete next month, Mr Somkiet said.

The tower is being built at a cost of B3 million, as part of the overall B546mn budget for the entire underpass project, he explained.

At the top of the structure is a sculpture of lotus bulb, a Buddhist symbol of peace.

“The design was part of the plans that were approved for the project, and similar Buddhist-themed designs are being used throughout the tunnel itself,” Mr Somkiet said.

February 20, 2019ZONEZI No commentsConstruction, News

PHUKET: Blue Tree Phuket has announced the appointment of Michael Ayling, a veteran of Phuket’s hospitality scene, as its General Manager.

Having worked in a consulting capacity for the past 24 months, Mr Ayling now takes the reins to lead the development, beginning with its opening to the public in early 2019.

The B1.33 billion project is located on 140 rai in Cherng Talay, and will have a giant waterpark as its centrepiece.

Facilities within the 70.8-rai first phase, which opens to the public in the first quarter of 2019, include a Water and Entertainment park, a four-storey vertical Beach Club, Fitness Zone, Kid’s Club and multiple retail spaces.

The project also includes plans for a retail mall with a major supermarket as the commercial anchor as well as office spaces, nightly entertainment in an amphitheatre, a four-storey beach club, a Kid’s Club, a fitness zone and at least 17 restaurants and food outlets. and parking spaces for 500 cars.

The commercial amenities will be centred around the complex’s star attraction: Blue Tree Lagoon.

The 17,000-square-metre man-made lagoon will be flanked by artificial beaches and offers the ultimate aquatic playground for family-friendly and adrenaline-driven activities such as Slip N Fly water slides, splash zone and even cliff jumping.

Aside from utilising state-of-the-art technology to maintain water clarity, The Blue Tree Lagoon also boasts eco-friendly credentials. Powered by global innovator Crystal Lagoons’ sustainable technology, the lagoon uses up to 100 times fewer chemicals and 50 times less energy than conventional swimming pool systems.

Mr Ayling, a UK-born leisure industry professional, brings a wealth of experience to the role including 12 years at Laguna Phuket, one of the island’s best-known and most expansive resort and leisure complexes.

February 16, 2019ZONEZI No commentsConstruction, News

BANGKOK: The Central Group of Companies, Thailand’s biggest retail conglomerate, plans to spend B1 billion to build its first outdoor lifestyle mall in the Bang Tao area of Phuket next year.

Lertvit Pumipitak, the group’s senior executive vice-president of corporate business development, said the company will start to develop Porto de Phuket on 50 rai in Bang Tao in 2019, with construction to be complete by the end the year.

The construction is divided into two phases. The first phase is on 20 rai, focusing on the development of an outdoor lifestyle mall covering 40,000 square metres.

The lifestyle mall will consist of seven features, including a Phuketian Mercado and a Food Hall with eateries, cafes, bars and beverage stores.

Central Food Hall, a restaurant and cafe zone, a multi-design house offering various creative products from top designers around the world, as well as new formats of Supersports, Power Buy, B2S and FamilyMart convenience store are all planned for the mall.

Nick Reitmeier, executive vice-president of Food Hall and international buying for Central Food Retail Co (CFR), the operator of Tops Supermarket and Food Hall, said the company plans to invest B120-150 million to build a new Food Hall at the Porto de Phuket project covering 3,000 square metres.

The group already operates Central Festival, Central Floresta and Robinson department stores and lifestyle centres in Phuket. In addition to Porto de Phuket, the group is building a Zen Department Store in Patong Beach slated to open before the year’s end.

February 16, 2019ZONEZI No commentsConstruction, News

PHUKET: Local residents will be able to get on board Phuket’s light-rail by 2023, a top official behind the project has assured.

Niran Kaetkeaw, the Director of the Regional Bureau of Transportation and Traffic Promotion, Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and planning (OTP), said on Friday (Oct 26) that the project was making good progress.

“The e-bidding for the project is expected to start next year 2019, with bids closing in 2020. We expect construction to start in 2020, with construction completed by 2022,” Mr Niran said.

“The first year of operation will be a trial period, with the light-rail fully operational and open to the public by 2023 for certain,” he added.

Mr Niran explained that the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA), which has now been granted legal authority to oversee the project, began seeking feedback from relevant agencies and the public in order to draft the terms of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) government tender to be offered.

“The MRTA will then submit their report to the Ministry of Transport and assist in expediting the preparation of the government tender documents,” he said.

“Construction of the first 41.7 kilometres of the project will be launched in the first half of 2022, or before the beginning of 2023. The budget for this section will be B30.154 billion.

“The entire project will be along a total of 58.52km, with a total project cost of B39.406 billion,” he said.

The northern section of the light-rail route will mainly follow Thepkrasattri Rd, Mr Niran noted.

February 16, 2019ZONEZI No commentsConstruction, News

As the advance of transit systems gives rise to suburban bed towns in Southeast Asia, real state developers are quickly seizing the opportunity to supply homes to the emerging ranks of residents who commute to city centers.

Near the Chatuchak subway stop about 10km north of central Bangkok, real-estate developer Sansiri is building a large condominium comprising about 800 units. The area has few high-rises and is close to the starting station of the Purple Line urban rail service launched in August.

All of the apartments were sold on the first day they went on sale. Some of the buyers were foreign investors from Hong Kong and elsewhere, but many were Thais who plan to live in the complex.

“There is solid demand among those who expect improved convenience in the future,” says Uthai Uthaisangsuk, a senior executive vice president of Sansiri.”

The second-largest property developer in Thailand has formed a joint venture with BTS Group Holdings, an operator of elevated railway services that owns land around the routes. The duo will together invest $2.86 billion by 2020 to construct 25 properties, including projects in Chatuchak.

New commercial establishments are also popping up in greater Bangkok. Retail titan Central Group, for instance, opened the CentralPlaza Westgate in Nonthaburi Province in late August last year.

Central Plaza Wrstagate is one of the biggest commercial facility in Southeast Asia

The commercial facility is one of the biggest in Southeast Asia, with about 500 domestic and foreign brand vendors occupying floor space totaling 500,000 sq. meters.

Property developers in Thailand all expect growth to pick up in the outer-ring area of Bangkok, suburbs outside of the roughly 5km radius from central Bangkok. U.S. real-estate giant CBRE projects that condo supply in Bangkok suburbs will increase 15% this year to a record 61,000 units. By contrast, the supply of new condos is seen decreasing in the central city.

Similar projects are expected in other major Southeast Asian cities where railway systems are under development. Improvements in transit systems are creating suburbs that draw residents from nearby villages and city centers.

Invest in your future now

Thailand GDP From Construction

GDP From Construction in Thailand increased to 77237 THB Million in the fourth quarter of 2016 from 66489 THB Million in the third quarter of 2016. GDP From Construction in Thailand averaged 58891.02 THB Million from 1993 until 2016, reaching an all time high of 103692 THB Million in the first quarter of 1996 and a record low of 36619 THB Million in the fourth quarter of 2000.

February 16, 2019ZONEZI No commentsConstruction, News

Good fortunes forecast for 2018

The EEC, mass transit projects and a brighter economy bring good tidings for the real estate market.

Thailand’s property market prospects are expected to be bright next year based on the country’s economic expansion, government spending on big-ticket infrastructure projects and the rise of the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).

Surachet Kongcheep, a property analyst, says market growth will mirror the country’s positive economic trajectory. Key factors boosting the economy are spending on the EEC and mass transit line expansion.

SET-listed contractor Ch.Karnchang Plc said new infrastructure projects that the government plans to open for bidding next year include the southern Purple Line from Tao Poon to Rat Burana — the largest one at 130 billion baht.

February 16, 2019ZONEZI No commentsConstruction, News

Hillside and cliffside developments in the Thai island require careful planning

Developers who want to build on vantage points, promontories, and other plots of significant terrain in Phuket will need to contend with the government’s new environmental regulations for the touristy Thai island, a leading hospitality consultant said.

Under rules issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, structures are forbidden from being built on land with a gradient or slope of 35 percent and above, significantly down from the previous threshold of 50 percent.

Additionally, if the area is elevated more than 40 metres, a building must not be six metres high. A building sited in an area elevated below 40 metres must not be 40 metres high.

“Who are the winners and losers for development? Hillside condominium projects certainly will become more difficult as will cliff hugging hotels,” reported Bill Barnett, managing director of the hotel consultancy C9 Hotelworks.

February 16, 2019ZONEZI No commentsConstruction, News

China, Thailand ink MOU for Kra Canal

GUANGZHAO: China and Thailand are reported to have inked a memorandum of understanding on the construction of a canal that would cut through peninsular Thailand, linking the South China Sea with the Andaman Sea.

Once completed, the ‘Kra Canal’ would offer an alternative sea link between Asia with the Middle East and Europe, bypassing the Strait of Malacca, a key shipping lane for world trade.

The Straight of Malacca is one of the world’s busiest international shipping lanes with up to 40 per cent of the world’s trade passing through it.

Chinese and Thai officials are said to have signed the memorandum of understanding in Guangzhou this week. The canal is would take 10 years to complete at a cost of at least US$28 billion (934.5 billion baht), reported the Hong Kong-based Oriental Daily.

The current proposal is for a two-way 25m deep canal measuring 102km in length and 400m wide. (For comparison, the Panama Canal is 15m deep and measures 304m at its widest point).

The route would reduce shipping distances for vessels entering the Gulf Of Thailand from the west by 1,200km, bypassing Singapore entirely.

According to the Oriental Daily, Chinese officials described the project as part of the country’s proposed ‘Maritime Silk Road’, which aims to revive a trade route from China through Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean to Europe.

In documents sourced by The Phuket News, the most likely route proposed for the canal would be from Satun on the Andaman Coast to Songkhla in the Gulf of Thailand. It could follow the current path of Route 406, which runs through the only significant in the range of mountains that runs north-south down the peninsula.

That route is the one recommended in a report by Pakdee Tanapura, the international director and acting spokesman of the Board of Directors of the International Executive Committee for the Study of the Kra Canal Project in Bangkok.

Although it is the longest of a dozen or so possible routes, Mr Pakdee regards it as the best because there is very little development and a low population, and both ends – in Satun province and Songkhla – are most suitable for the building of ports and industrial zones.

The route is an old one. Phuket-based author Colin McKay, in his seminal book, A History of Phuket and the Surrounding Region, suggests that the route from Satun to Songkhla may date back as much as 1,100 years ago.

“There is sufficient evidence from excavations done in the region by archaeologists from Cambridge University and elsewhere, to speculate that around the 10^th century [AD], an ancient waterway system may even have been dug across much of the peninsula from near Satun on the west coast to the great Thale Luang Lake and Songkhla on the east coast,” he wrote.

The canal through the Kra Isthmus has been discussed since the 17^th Century, when King Narai commissioned a French engineer to assess the possibility of building a waterway from Songkhla to the Andaman Sea). But the idea was dropped because there was not the technology at the time to do it.

The idea has been resurrected several times since, but the signing of the MOU this week is the furthest things have ever got.

UPDATE, May 19, 5:55pm

Since this story was first posted by The Phuket News and a number of Thai websites, debate has raged as to whether the Kra Canal project is actually likely to be realised. The debate has now been taken up in interntional forums.

For example, Singapore’s Channel News Asia reported, “… a Thai Transport Ministry official said the project is not in the pipeline. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also stated there has been no agreement between the Thai and Chinese governments on this matter.”

It named no officials apart from Dr Panitan Wattanayagorn, “security advisor to Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, [who said] the reports from China might have been a result of a misunderstanding.”

Amid all the denials, however, no one yet named has denied that an MOU was signed.

The Phuket News is rechecking with its sources and will contact other sources tomorrow to see whether the signing can be confirmed or not.

One usually reliable source told The Phuket News, “There are outside interests that will not want this project to fly and it looks like they have already started…”