Race is on for the ‘tallest skyscraper’ in East Asia

 An artist’s impression of the 125-storey ‘Super Tower’ in Bangkok, slated to be completed by 2019.

By Arno Maierbrugger/Gulf Times Correspondent/Bangkok

 Despite Thailand’s troubled economy and a military-controlled government in place, a Thai developer has announced that it will build a “new landmark” for the country, a 615-metre 125-storey “Super Tower” in Bangkok, slated to be completed by 2019.

When finished, this building within a mixed-used development in one of Bangkok’s main residential and business districts on Rama IX Road, will be the tallest tower in Southeast Asia, surpassing Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers (452 metres), as well as stand among the tallest towers in the world, only 213 metres shorter than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa but taller than the Clock Tower Hotel in Mecca, Saudi Arabia (601 metres), Taiwan’s Taipei 101 (509 metres), the Shanghai World Financial Center (492 metres) and the International Commerce Center in Hong Kong (484 metres). It is only challenged by two Chinese towers currently under construction, the Pingan International Finance Center in Shenzen (planned height: 648 metres) and the Shanghai Tower (planned height: 632 metres), as well as of course the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah which should reach a height of 1 kilometre at its estimated completion in 2019.

Building super-tall structures is a novelty for Thailand. The country’s current tallest tower is the 7-year old Baiyoke II Tower in Bangkok at a meagre height of 304 metres. Construction of other super-tall buildings has just started recently, with the MahaNakon Tower, Magnolias Waterfront Residences and Landmark Waterfront expected to reach over 300 metres in height each.

The stock exchange-listed developer of Bangkok’s new “Super Tower” – the name for the building is still temporary and a competition will be held -, Grand Canal Land, said that construction costs for the tower will be around $560mn.

he building will encompass 320,000 square metres of space, of which 90,000 square metres will be for offices, and the rest for residential use, a “six-star” hotel with 260 rooms, retail space, a convention hall, an observation deck and rooftop gardens.

The structure will be part of the Grand Rama 9 complex, which stretches over 1.2mn square metres of land designed to serve 300,000 people a day.

The developer said it will finance the tower at a 60% debt rate from four Thai banks and expects rental income from a partially opened tower as early as 2016. It will also seek domestic and international investors for office and condominium space, obviously inspired by the fact that the MahaNakhon Tower has been a hit with Dubai investors at a sales roadshow last year and already bagged $27mn in investments from a Dubai business group.

However, industry experts say that they are not convinced that super-tall structures in Thailand are going to be a commercial success.

“Prospects for super-tall buildings are not impressive considering the cost of development against achievable rentals. There is not enough demand from the types of tenants who are willing to pay a rental premium,” says Aliwassa Pathnadabutr, Managing Director of CBRE Thailand.

So far, buildings with 30 to 50 storeys have proved popular with residents and companies in Thailand and can indeed command higher rents, he said, but added that “we have yet to see a premium in prices of buildings with more than 60 floors.”