Hotel group Evergreen aims to tap tourist surge

Over the past seven years, the company has developed or renovated four hotels and one office building in Bangkok with a total investment of more than Bt400 million. The first property that became a full hotel operation was Evergreen Place in the Ratchathewi area.
The company currently is developing two more mixed-use projects – Ari Hills and Ladprao Hills – at a combined cost of Bt1.8 billion, making the group’s overall investment Bt2.2 billion since 2010.
Managing director Wutthiphon Taworntawat said Ari Hills would be a mixed-use project on Phaholyothin Road and will consist of office spaces, retail shops and 200 hotel rooms.
It will be the group’s highest investment at Bt1.3 billion.
“This project is a joint venture with a local landlord. It is scheduled to be completed within the |first quarter of 2018,” Wutthiphon said.
He added that the second mixed-use project called Ladprao Hills would also consist of office spaces, retail shops, and 200 hotel rooms.
The project, with an investment of Bt500 million, is set to open in the first quarter of 2018. This will be a renovated hotel on a 30-year rental contract.

Serviced apartments at Asoke
Wutthiphon said that after the company turned Evergreen Place into a hotel, it began to develop, a year later, a service apartment called Asoke Residence with 55 rooms on a rented plot of land.
In 2012, it renovated its own existing building used for Leamthong Securities to a modern office and renamed it L Building. The group later moved to develop another of its small hotels, “Alt”, in the Nana area, to serve expatriate guests, as well as tourists.
In December last year, it opened The Residence Thong Lor at a refurbishment cost of Bt250 million.
The 78 room block was done with a 30-year rental deal.
He said company is in talks with investors at some major tourist destinations, including Pattaya, for further developments.
“The group has been expanding into hotels and residences rapidly to serve market demand in different locations.
“The growing tourism sector is a major factor for our investment. Although we are a local chain, our strength is we employ general managers who used to work with five-star hotels and have group housekeeper managers to supervise service operations,” he said.
Aside from the hotel business led by Wutthiphon, other family members are running Times Square, the office building located on Sukhumvit, and L Building in the Ratchathewi area.