Vajiravudh College leases 6-rai site on Ratchadamri to Thai Obayashi, says JLL

Property consultancy and services firm JLL announced today that Vajiravudh College has awarded the 50-year lease contract for its the 6-rai site on Ratchadamri Road to Thai Obayashi. The lessee will redevelop the site into a prime Grade A office building, a hotel and retail space. 

_{Photo Caption: Mr. Kiattikhun Chartprasert (middle right), Vajiravudh College Commander and Mr. Pornchai Sitthiyakorn (middle left), President of Thai Obayashi, present the 50-year lease contracts for the college’s 6-rai site on Ratchadamri Road. Also seen in the picture are executives from Vajravudh College – Dr. Piphat Phonpunnukul and Mr. Weeraphot Tohleebumrung; from Thai Obayashi, the lessee, such as Mr. Sompong Chintawongwanich and Mr. Tadayoshi Furueda; and from JLL, the sole leasing agent, such as Mrs. Suphin Mechuchep, Chairperson, and Mr. Michael Glancy, Country Head.}

"This 50-year lease deal represents the most significant real estate investment transaction completed in Bangkok so far since the pandemic due to its contract value and prime location in the heart of the central business district,” says Michael Glancy, Country Head of JLL. “It also reaffirms property developers’ continued interest in Bangkok’s prime plots and confidence in the city’s long-term market outlook.”

Situated in one of Bangkok’s prestigious locations facing the BTS Ratchadamri station with iconic views of The Royal Bangkok Sports Club, the site belongs to Vajiravudh College that appointed JLL as the exclusive advisor to put it up for lease by tender beginning in April 2021. It comprises two connecting plots -- one with 3 rai and 70 square wah of land area and an office building, with Thai Obayashi being the existing lessee, and another with 2 rai, 3 ngan and 81 square wah of land and an apartment block. Both the existing office and residential buildings on the site will be removed by Thai Obayashi to make way for a mixed-use development project comprising more than 100,000 sqm of gross floor area. 

Krit Pimhataivoot, Head of Investment at JLL, comments “Whilst repositioning the existing buildings on the site was an available option, Thai Obayashi has chosen a redevelopment approach. This will allow the firm to maximize the site’s floor area ratio (FAR) of up to 10:1 as Ratchadamri Road is defined by the Bangkok town plan as an area for high-density mixed-use development.” 

“Moreover, the development project proposed by Thai Obayashi has put sustainability at a top of its agenda, which is one of the key criteria, in addition to pricing, that Vajiravudh College used in selecting the winner out of the participants in the competitive tender for the site,” he adds.