The changing face of Bangkok's central business district: Will it shift yet again?

Historically, Bangkok’s original CBD was by the river along Charoenkrung Road around Chinatown and where the Mandarin Oriental Hotel is now. The Chao Phraya River was the hub of the city’s economic activities and the key mode of transport for residents and traders. The Sampeng and Yaowarat areas were Bangkok’s commercial centres given their accessibility from the river and the transport link.  

Later in the 1950s and 1960s, the emergence of more modern retail and office formats led to an extension of the CBD into the Surawongse, Si Phraya and Silom areas. The office of Baker McKenzie, one of Thailand’s oldest international law firms, was in Surawongse. 

Back then, the Sukhumvit area was an undeveloped field, and Sathorn was a residential area for the old rich and partly Crown Property. 

As the city expanded, the 1990s saw multiple areas being developed and built up. Asoke and Rama III were predicted to be the next CBDs, but this did not materialise. 

In fact, the CBD, particularly Grade A office developments, extended from the Silom area to Sathorn and Wireless Roads, whereas retail centres and five-star hotels concentrated along the Ploenchit and Rama I area. 

Sukhumvit was seen as a residential area and a micro-market for offices. Vibhavadi Rangsit near Central Lat Phrao was a secondary market for offices underpinned by its location near the expressway.

The big change for Bangkok came about in 2000 with the completion of the BTS Skytrain, followed by the MRT subway in 2004. 

The core of the mass-transit systems anchored Bangkok’s city centres and the CBD, which included Silom and Sathorn, Lumpini, early Sukhumvit and Phyathai. 

The period from 2000 onwards saw a build-up of city centre sites with new developments being constructed. 

Without stringent city planning, Bangkok’s CBD has developed into an interesting landscape featuring a mixture of hotels, retail and residential developments and offices in any one particular area. Each area in the CBD today offers the best of everything. This is unlike cities such as London, where The City is predominantly commercial and is usually very quiet at night, while the West End is predominantly retail with a mixture of residential. 

However, after the continuous build-up, prime CBD land in Bangkok is now hard to find. Prices of prime plots have also risen substantially, making developments less feasible financially. This has triggered yet another change in the way Bangkok is developing and is again dictated by the mass-transit systems and infrastructure. 

Today, the key area demonstrating significant growth is the early part of Ratchadaphisek from Rama IX to the Suthisarn intersection. Many new Grade A office buildings such as The Ninth Tower, AIA Capital Center, G-Land Tower, the new Stock Exchange, large-scale shopping malls and high-rise residential condominiums have been developed in this area, or soon will be. This is forming Bangkok’s new sub-CBD and an emerging office location. 

As CBD prices continue to increase, sub-centres are likely to emerge in midtown and suburban locations along mass-transit routes. 

However, today the city’s core CBD is solidly positioned and unlikely to shift. 

We believe the CBD and sub-CBD markets will run in parallel, and where you choose to be will largely be dictated by price and rental affordability.

 

Aliwassa Pathnadabutr is managing director of CBRE Thailand.