ndominiums. The area is often referred to as “the Wall Street of Bangkok”, bordered in part by Wireless Road and the major city arterial route Rama IV.   Currently, the area’s population has to travel to the high-profile malls that line the city end of Sukhumvit Road to shop. The first two of what will ultimately be four interconnected retail spaces boasting 190,000sqm of lettable area with around 900 tenancies will open in the fourth quarter of this year. Tenants will range from high-end luxury Maisons to retailers supplying the everyday needs of the 60,000 office workers, high-net-worth residents and hotel guests at One Bangkok. The developers – Frasers Property and Thai tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi’s TCC Assets – are projecting a daily footfall of between 200,000 and 250,000 people, a similar number to the long-established megamalls on Sukhumvit, Siam Paragon and CentralWorld. Besides locals and workers, tourists will be targeted along with the 23 million local people who live within a two-hour drive of the complex.  “We think we can easily reach that number,” One Bangkok’s retail leasing manager Joe Chan told Inside Retail. “Other projects don’t have that much office space to support the retail, which is one of our strong points.” The first part of the development opened quietly in March – several floors of office space occupied by an international insurance company, supported by a temporary food court and convenience retail space. By the time the entire project is complete in 2027, there will be five premium-grade office towers, five international luxury and lifestyle hotels, and three high-rise residential towers. The largest building will be Thailand’s tallest, at 437 metres and around 90 stories.  Chan said One Bangkok will anchor a new retail corridor around Rama IV, with the metropolitan government working with several large developers. “You will see a lot more projects going on – be it retail, hotels, or residential – around here and most of them will be upscale because this is right in the CBD.” One Bangkok will be built over a 67,000sqm plot of land bracketed by Bangkok’s two ‘green lungs’ – the 575,000sqm Lumpini Park and the 728,000 Benchakitti Park. Chan says the developers have dedicated 50 per cent of the site to green space and public areas.  “No other projects in Bangkok, or maybe in the world – can sacrifice that much space for public access. But we believe in this because, by 2050, Frasers Property will be net zero carbon, so we are working towards that direction. This is a prototype for one of the most sustainable projects in Bangkok,” he said. “This is not a district where it is only all about the buildings and nice architecture. People can come here to live, work and play and we have not forgotten the importance to human beings of green and nature.” Parade and The Storeys First to open will be the Parade and The Storeys shopping precincts. The largest, Parade, will mix up new-to-market retail tenants with well-known brands, with a GFA of 140,000sqm and an NLA of 85,000sqm over nine floors.  Fashion will take up the ground and first floors of the Parade, athleisure and sports the second. Reflecting how the developers expect people to feed down from offices and residences and up from street level, two floors of food & beverage will be located on the third and fourth floors. On the fifth, services for mums and kids will be clustered along with entertainment. One floor above the retail a cinema will be built, and above that, a precinct for visa processing and government services.  “There will be a lot of expats here and obviously expats spend a lot, so we hope by doing that we are attracting more expats and attracting more foreigners,” said Chan. The Storeys – billed as home to “fresh and fun concept stores merging contemporary global and local culture” – will have a GFA of 64,000sqm and an NLA of 35,000sqm across five levels. It will house eight concept stores facing out onto an indoor town square suitable for fashion shows, launches and promotional activations, and which connects with the underground MRT train station. These spaces are designed to attract brands that want to make a statement and visitors can expect to be greeted with a 12-metre-high facade bearing images from the brands housed here. Starbucks has already committed to one, along with local lifestyle brand Jim Thompson which is planning a retail store combined with a cafe and a museum space. Swatch has announced it will open an experiential museum this year. Other fashion labels have committed but their identities remain under wraps for now.  In the basement of Storey will be a comprehensive food & beverage area to service office staff and mall visitors alike, beneath a level of fashion and another of sports and athleisure.  On the third floor, One Bangkok is building a precinct that will trade late into the night with multiple eateries and bars at varying price points.  The final retail stages Subsequently, Post 1928 will open, described as “a progressive, dynamic take on luxury experience” with a GFA of 67,000sqm and an NLA of 40,000sqm over five floors. This will incorporate the city’s first luxury shopping experience with an external street frontage fronting onto One Bangkok Boulevarde – which Chan describes as the widest shopping street in Bangkok at 37 metres. Running through the heart of the development, this street will take cars to underground parking, and give pedestrians access to a 10,000sqm public park.  “If you think about Canton Road in Hong Kong, Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills or Bond Street in London – every country has that road of luxury shopping,” said Chan.  The name Post 1928 is a reference to the year the first radio signal was sent internationally from Thailand – from a small building on the corner of what is now the One Bangkok site, and the reason Wireless Road was so named.  When the site was being cleared, construction crews uncovered the foundations of the station which is now being rebuilt with the same colours, mood and tone of the original building, providing an experiential space for people to take pictures and learn a little bit more about the area’s history.  The final retail stage will be the Live Entertainment Arena, home to a large cultural, exhibition and concert space with a capacity for 6000 people. A retail component will take up 30,000sqm of a GFA of 50,000sqm, again spread over five levels.   A ‘lifestyle phenomenon’ Having developed mixed-use real estate projects across more than 20 countries, Frasers Property understandably considers One Bangkok as the pinnacle of its achievements to date. Panote Sirivadhanabhakdi, group CEO at Frasers Property, said the company had assembled a multi-disciplinary team to create what it considers “a fully integrated smart and sustainable district”.   “By paying meticulous attention to every detail, from master planning and design to construction and business operations, we are crafting ‘The Heart of Bangkok’ to be a unique wonder in everyone’s heart, a place that will provide extensive green and open spaces to Bangkok, inspire every individual with art and cultural programmes, and enhance people’s quality of life with sustainable urban development,” he explained in a statement.  “Of equal importance is this project will bring Bangkok to the fore as an international city economically and culturally in terms of being an unequalled lifestyle destination, which will attract top-level businesspeople, investors, and tourists, both local and international alike.”  From a retail perspective, One Bangkok’s chief retail officer Palinee Kongchansiri claims One Bangkok will redefine retail by bringing together fully integrated and superior shopping experiences. “This will be a place that makes every day special for all customers and visitors.”