......Calling The Beaches project at Bang Saray big and ambitious would be like saying a few people around the world are currently experiencing financial problems. In short, it would make me the master of understatement, writes John Davids.
“The Beaches is going to change tourism in Chonburi itself and Thailand overall,” is how George Morgan, VP sales and marketing of developers Pacific Shore Developments, described it to me. And who would waste their breath trying to argue?

Unspoilt bay
A colleague tried to put it in perspective back in our October issue when he wrote: “Set in 88 rai on relatively unspoilt Bang Saray Bay (main picture), The Beaches 300-room, five-star condominium resort project will combine the beach cultures of the Mediterranean, North and South America and Thailand in a 30-acre waterscape.”
Building at the venue is due to start shortly. First to be constructed will be Asia’s most technologically advanced water-park (area 12 on the map).
“We want to finish the whole of the Beaches as close as possible to 2012,” said George Morgan, “but there’s a lot to be done and this is Thailand. We are prepared for the possibility that it might take longer.”
Back to my colleague who wrote: “The water-park will be joined by a grand palace as the flagship hotel, two other five-star international hotels, and a boutique hotel with Maldives-inspired water villas.”
Add to this three man-made beaches, three lagoons, all-adult and family pools, a state-of-the-art fitness centre and tennis academy, a wellness and longevity spa,
a hi-tech conference, meeting and convention centre and the kilometre-long Grande Promenade, sporting 20 themed gourmet and casual restaurants, nestling in luxurious, landscaped gardens and you start to get an idea of the scale of the undertaking.
This is a seriously large project. It would be wherever it was built in the world. But the good news is that it’s going to be on Pattaya’s doorstep, just a short hop down the coast.

Not affected
I mentioned financial problems earlier. The developers of The Beaches are keen to make it clear that they are not affected.
“All the land was paid for in cash,” George said. “We owe no money to the bank.”
Investors’ money will be deposited into a custodian account with a major reputable financial institution that offers peace of mind because money will only to released from it for legitimate, construction-related expenditure and is not open to abuse by individuals.
Given the pedigree of those involved with the project it seems disrespectful to use words like ‘abuse’ but the odd case does crop up every now and then in the Thai property market so George was willing to address the subject before moving on.
“People are wary, as they should be,” said George. “But we have a board of directors that would be the envy of many companies.
“We want people to be watching us and what we do. We want someone (from the board) to tell us if we are doing something wrong. We want to be policed and have nothing to hide.
“Our chief executive also has a good relationship with the Bangkok Bank based on past dealings.”

Prestigious developments
CEO of Pacific Shore Developments is Liakat Dhanji, who has a pedigree of developing some of Thailand’s most luxurious housing projects, as well as prestigious developments in Vancouver, Toronto, San Francisco’s Nob Hill, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia, Spain, London, Sri Lanka, India, and Indonesia.
“You only have to look at his record – 69 projects over a 30 year period – to know this is in good hands,” George added.
Investors looking to commit now are being offered a guaranteed return of six per cent for five years and 30 per cent of room rate thereafter which will be approximately Bt10,000 a night for a five star unit.
Prices start at Bt10.9m for a 65 sqm unit.
“Owners will potentially recover their money over a seven year period,” said George. “A lot of people have signed up for four or five units with a view to keeping one for themselves.”
He concluded: “We are attracting a lot of interest from investors in Dubai and Russia.”
l Look out for more on The Beaches in future issues.

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