Phuket to get new luxury mixed-use development

MAJOR REAL-ESTATE developers from Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore have joined forces to develop the large-scale MontAzure project in Phuket, with the project worth between Bt15 billion and Bt18 billion to include a luxury hotel, residences, retail outlets, and tailor-made villas.
Three property and hotel investment groups – Arch Capital Management (Hong Kong and Shanghai), The Narai Group (Thailand), and Philean Capital (Singapore), part of Pontiac Land Group – are working together as joint-venture partners on the development.
Richard Yue, chief executive officer and chief investment officer of Arch Capital, said the three investors bought a 450-rai (72-hectare) plot four years ago from the Kanjanapas family – the operator of Bangkok’s BTS Skytrain.
Narai Group and Arch Capital have previously been involved in joint investments for property projects, mainly in Bangkok, while Philean Capital has entered the Thailand market for the first time.
“Arch and Philean have been [investing] and continue to invest in property in many |countries and territories in-|cluding [mainland] China, Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines. But Phuket’s MontAzure pro-ject will be the largest single |project for us,” Yue said.
Phuket is being developed into an upper-level destination, particularly for luxury tourism, as well as for medical and wellness/marine and cruise travel, with the famous resort island undergoing a major expansion including roads, shopping malls, duty-free shops and the old passenger terminal at the airport. 
Yue said MontAzure would be a great upper-tourism addition to the market as it would boast luxury properties and a condominium called Twinpalms Residences, which will be managed by Twinpalms Resort.
He said 41 units, priced between Bt8 million and Bt20 million, had been sold and the remaining units were priced between Bt18 million and Bt93 million.
The project will also include an InterContinental Hotel, a joint venture involving Proud Real Estate, which is owned by Suwat Liptapanlop. The hotel is expected to open in 2018.
Additional developments include a boutique community mall and retail outlets in which a major shareholder of The Mall Group will be involved, a beach club, and the first Cafe del Mar – a famous European cafe and restaurant brand – in Asia.
The tailor-made luxury villas will be located on a hill overlooking Kamala Beach. 
The first unit is slated for launch next month. 
High-profile customers from Moreno, Germany and France have visited the project. 
Setthaphol Boottho, executive director for MontAzure Phuket, said the investors also planned a second-phase project that would consist of more villas, a retirement centre, a wellness centre and a lagoon.
Another 12 villas are in the pipeline, to be made available upon request.