Golden Village, Ban Chang, near Rayong, is a development with fine potential in an up-and-coming community, which has great investment prospects.
The development of the Golden Village estate has been taken over by a experienced and long-established developer from its previous stalled condition when the basic infrastructure was laid down and a number of detached houses built.
One of the estate’s greatest plus factors is that it lies adjacent to an area designated by the local council as being the site for its new administrative and public services premises, thus assuring that all the necessary peripheral infrastructure will be completed within a very short period of time and, by being consequently so advantageously placed, initial land values and returns-on-investment will almost certainly rise, accordingly.
The community
Ban Chang is in an admirable location within a 10-minute drive of the Maptaphut Industrial Estate and less than one kilometre from the Sukhumvit Road, giving swift access to Rayong, Pattaya and Bangkok, as well as the airports of Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang and Pattaya International at U-Tapao.
The Ban Chang community is currently relatively small and peaceful, but is growing slowly and should be quite substantial within five years.
Already, it has a relatively large shopping complex in the form of a Tesco-Lotus centre, as well as numerous local shops, sufficient for most immediate needs, with another shopping centre planned. If further supplies are required, the shopping facilities of both Rayong and Pattaya are within easy driving distance. There are also representatives of all the national banks, as well as Aksorn Business College.
Extensive recreational facilities in the form of five international golf courses are close at hand and the nearby beach is largely the domain of locals and others in the know who are attracted by its unspoilt nature and numerous fine seafood restaurants.
Relatively tranquil and largely undiscovered beaches are also spaced at regular intervals up the coast towards Rayong, fine for bathing and fishing, and if more extensive water sports than those immediately available are required, Jomtien is less than 30 minutes by road.
As far as educational requirements are concerned, the neighbourhood is well served by two international schools, Garden International School and St Andrew’s, as well as an English-Thai bilingual school, all accessible within 15 minutes.
Ban Chang already has a considerable number of ex-pat residents, both Western and Oriental, many of whom work offshore, in the nearby naval facilities, or in the industrial estates of the Eastern Seaboard, apart from those who are retirees.
As such, the community caters to their wants in local entertainments and a number of foreign restaurants, including some Japanese and a Turkish one; Thais, of course, are adequately provided for by local amenities.

Target markets
The homes on the Golden Village estate are likely to be marketed to four main customer groups:
l Thai and foreign management working in the local Maptaphut Industrial Estate;
l Bangkok Thais keen to acquire a holiday or weekend home with close seaside access;
l Foreigners and their families from Pattaya or Bangkok, keen to move to more conducive and cheaper areas;
l Investors who envisage buying-to-let to Thai and foreign management from the Maptaphut Industrial Estate or the others of the Eastern Seaboard in the vicinity of Rayong.

Project details
The Golden Village estate has commercial frontage on Sukhumvit Road and stretches back from there, initially with condominiums and after that the houses of the residential housing estate proper.
The current developers will continue the development of the Golden Village estate from where the previous Thai developers left off, but with the significant difference that, this time, it will be fully completed within an envisaged three-year timeframe.
All the existing infrastructure will be renovated and substantially extended to accommodate the estate requirements.
The project has four component phases:
1 Four three-storey commercial buildings along the adjacent Sukhumvit Road;
2 Two condominium buildings;
3 A residential estate with 120 land and house plots;
4 An executive five-star estate;

Commercial frontage
Plans have been drawn up for four three-storey commercial buildings with 6m-wide frontages and a total working area of about 230 sqm. Each unit will have two dedicated parking spaces.
In addition, there will be a further 10 units behind these commercial buildings with a mix of three and four storeys. The complex will have about 30 visitor parking spaces. Prices are expected to range from Bt4.8m up to Bt5.8m.

The condominium buildings
Two condominium buildings are planned, behind the Bangkok Bank at the entrance to the estate, with up to five floors each and underground parking allowing at least one parking space per unit. These will be high quality, but affordable rental apartments at around Bt10,000 per month aimed at local Thais and expatriates working for the multinational companies at Maptaphut and other Eastern Seaboard industrial estates. Facilities are expected to include a fitness centre, a laundry, a café and a swimming pool.

The residential estate
Following the condominium buildings, we have the residential estate proper. Details:
l A total of 120 land and house plots available from 60sqw (240sqm) up to 126sqw (504sqm);
l land prices from Bt10,500 per sqw;
l new two-bedroom and three-bedroom bungalow design.
The existing clubhouse serving the residential estate has the following facilities:
l cafe-bar
l 24 x 12 m communal swimming pool
l tennis court
l basketball court

The executive estate
In front of the main residential estate, behind Sukhumvit Road, there will be an executive estate separated from the residential estate by walls in a gated community, with independent access from the adjacent road. This executive estate will consist of about 25 land and house plots, with plot sizes probably ranging from 90sqw (360sqm) up to around 140sqw (560sqm) with the average size 120sqw (480sqm) and finished homes will cost in the range of Bt5-6m.
The roads in the executive estate will be in a meandering pattern with some cul-de-sacs to allow a quiet and private community. There will be a separate clubhouse with pool for the residents.
Finally, the whole Golden Village estate will be a gated community with 24-hour security.

Conclusions
As may be seen from the foregoing, the Golden Village estate will make an ideal investment opportunity, either for personal residential purposes for owner-occupiers, or to buy-to-let as there is a huge rental potential in the form of the management of the local industrial estates.
Ban Chang makes a very viable alternative to Pattaya as it is a quiet, relatively unspoilt, essentially rural-seaside community with significantly lower property prices, yet with excellent future potential.
Being just off Sukhumvit Road also gives Ban Chang perfect access to all the facilities of the Eastern Seaboard, but with none of the drawbacks of living in a city; in a phrase, the best of both worlds. Ω

Contact
Mark Thomson, Rayong Paradise City Property, at 1/1, Moo 1, Pala, Ban Chang, Rayong 21130.
T: +66 (0)38 601-541
F: +66 (0)38 601-541
E: mark@rayongproperty.biz
Or
Gavin Perfect, Pattaya Paradise City Property, 116/27 Pattaya Klang Road, Pattaya.
T: +66 (0)38 373-966
F: +66 (0)38 373-517
M: +66 (0)8 1761-3238
E: pattaya@paradisecityproperty.com