Rangsit Plaza Co, the operator of Future Park Rangsit shopping centre, is dusting off its plan to build a new retail project worth 3 billion baht in the Rangsit area if floods do not strike again this year.
The new shopping project has delayed piling work since early last December due to the heavy flooding in Bangkok.
"Our new shopping mall will fulfil strong customer demand in the Rangsit area. If everything goes as planned, the project will resume construction this December and cost 3 billion baht," said chief executive Pimpaka Wanglee.
The project will be built on a 12-rai plot next to Future Park Rangsit. The funds will come from the expansion of its property fund, bank loans and cash flow.
Future Park Leasehold Property Fund will raise another 1.5 billion baht in the coming months. The property fund is now valued at 7 billion baht.
Ms Pimpaka said the new retail project will boast 80,000 square metres of space and take about three years to complete. It will create more than 1,000 new jobs.
Rangsit Plaza is reviewing the design of its new shopping project to suit the changing environment, including customer profiles, competitors and natural disasters.
"There are up to 100 tenants waiting to lease our space," she said.
Among those on the waiting list are new players including both local and international brand names.
Future Park Rangsit was developed 17 years ago with retail space of 240,000 sq m. The occupancy rate is 99.5%.
Ms Pimpaka said the Rangsit area has high potential for new retail projects as competition is still low compared to eastern Bangkok.
Future Park Rangsit has 17 attractive magnets, the highest compared to other shopping complexes in Thailand. So, it has a modest impact from any new community mall or shopping project nearby, she said.
Rangsit Plaza is focusing on building flood-protection walls and dykes for 3 kilometres to protect it against future floods as well as expanding the parking lot. The walls and dykes are expected to be completed by September and the expanded parking space will accommodate up to 8,000 cars, up from the current 7,200.
The company incurred losses of about 300 million baht from lost sales and property damage during last year's flood, but it received insurance claims of about 100 million baht. Customer spending in the first half of 2012 improved considerably, and it receives 150,000 visitors per day.
