Gaybutton Posted May 18, 2009 Posted May 18, 2009 The following appears in the PATTAYA DAILY NEWS: For artist conceptions, see: http://www.pattayadailynews.com/shownews.p...NEWS=0000009256 _____ CENTRAL TO OPEN NEW SUPER SHOPPING COMPLEX IN CHONBURI The Central Group is to open a new lavish shopping mall in Chonburi, scheduled for May 29, 2009, to augment its extremely popular Central Festival Pattaya Beach Mall. The new Chonburi mall will cost Bt4.6-billion and cover an area of 165,000m2, housing in the range of 200 shops, which will include Robinson Department Store, Tops Market, PowerBuy and SF Cinema City. The Central Group had earlier put expansion plans on the back-boiler due to the gloomy economic outlook. However, new economic stimulus packages in neighbouring Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and China have restored an optimistic attitude to the SE Asian region, which will have knock-on effects on Thailand’s economy. There have also been encouraging signs that the American economy is also picking up, which will help to restore confidence worldwide. Central Group’s CEO, Kobchai Chirathivat, said "We believe that our economy and politics have already passed their lowest point and it is now the time to take off again". Accordingly, the company will revise its earlier decision to put on hold the construction of new shopping complexes in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Bangkok’s Rama IX and the proposed renovation of Central Plaza Lat Phrao. The company has also been pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming response of shoppers to the Central Festival Pattaya Beach and its new Bangkok shopping mall. The grand opening of CentralPlaza Chonburi is due to take place on May 29 and the company expects to spend in the region of Bt90 million on the ceremony. The Central Group regards Chonburi Province as flourishing commercial and industrial area, housing a population of over 1 million locals as well as a significant number of expats, both retirees living in and around Pattaya and the employees of the numerous industrial estates, like the huge Amata estates, in the area. Quote
