Ocean 1 and View Talay

[Guest HeyGay]

With all respect, HeyGay, your comments contain precisely one fact, which you then repeat - and that seems to be a well known one! I would certainly regard that as very far from satisfactory if I were in fact a potential buyer - which I am not. If, as you suggest -

 

Well what I have told you is all I know, if you

[Guest fountainhall]

Well what I have told you is all I know . . .

Err. that does not quite seem to square with what you said earlier in the thread -

 

. . . like the confidence that was trusted to me, about the future development of OCEAN 1 . . .

and -

 

but it will happen so don

[TotallyOz]

Give it a rest till you have there official statement.

 

Yeah Fountainhall. Come on man! It has only been 2 years since they updated the site. I am sure an official statement is forthcoming!

 

hehe

 

Frankly, I don't care much about Ocean 1. I am waiting on an official statement from Jimm Jimmy James about when it will reopen! More pressing issues than Ocean 1 are on my mind.

[Guest fountainhall]

I am waiting on an official statement from Jimm Jimmy James about when it will reopen! More pressing issues than Ocean 1 are on my mind.

Now if you had mentioned Euro Boys, I'd be right up there with you

[TotallyOz]

Now if you had mentioned Euro Boys, I'd be right up there with you

 

I really liked Euro Boys but it was half the size of Jimm's bar and Jim furnished his bar great. I would love to see both opened again and gogo's flourishing in Sunee. I think competition is good for business for all. If both bars opened we would be able to call it a Renaissance in Soi Sunee! With the opening of the new bar where Kaos once stood, the path is started.

[Guest]

I really liked Euro Boys but it was half the size of Jimm's bar and Jim furnished his bar great. I would love to see both opened again and gogo's flourishing in Sunee.

 

The return of the Euroboys theme in slightly larger premises would be a big step forward!

 

I doubt these places are particularly profitable, especially after the deduction of tea money. So perhaps it needs a few multi-millionaires wanting a trophy business, in the same way the billionaires have to get a football club.

[Guest HeyGay]

Yeah Fountainhall. Come on man! It has only been 2 years since they updated the site. I am sure an official statement is forthcoming!

 

hehe

 

Frankly, I don't care much about Ocean 1. I am waiting on an official statement from Jimm Jimmy James about when it will reopen! More pressing issues than Ocean 1 are on my mind.

 

Come on Michael, I know your not slow to make a buck or 2, get one of your entourage of lovers to front and open JJJs and make it the best bar in town, if you make things better than what Beer of Nice boys fame is doing, stack the boys high, no more than one lady fem speaking boy in ever ten, Boys around doing the snake dance, eye candy every where, Naked a as use to be the case before the early 90s and if you can make them smile, as if it was a Fun party, now that would be a fun place everyone would want to go to and keep the drinks around 100 baht we would have to queue and have to wait for a seat to get in. Come on man hurry up before the Arabs take over

[Guest fountainhall]

up until now, no one has ever caught me out with any lies, at one time I even Offered a free dinner for two at the best restaurant in town, Mata Hari if they could prove me wrong and that still applies

 

I have lifted the above HeyGay quote made on 9 August 2012 from the thread titled “Exciting New Beginnings” only because I believe that I (and others who contributed to earlier threads) can now claim the dinner that HeyGay has always talked about.

 

Now, readers of this Board are frequently regaled with secrets and other information to which only HeyGay is prey. Consequently, he is able to boast about his knowledge and offer tips from time to time. When challenged, he refers to his 100% prediction success record and offers the dinner at Mata Hari to anyone who can dislodge him from that lofty position. I believe that time has come – although I suspect that he himself will once again offer up all sorts of excuses as to why he remains right and I am wrong. We’ll see!

 

In an earlier thread started by lonelywombat on 16 January 2011 and titled “Rob Astbury to leave Thailand for OZ Gold Coast”, the discussion soon centred around Ocean 1, the proposed 91-storey tower scheduled to be built in Jomtien. HeyGay took exception to one of the comments and immediately responded -

 

As for OCEAN 1 The Largest Residential Building to be built in the World which Includes a Luxury Shopping Mall it would not be right for me to announce future developments here, that I have been told in confidence, but I can tell you amazing things are going to happen there in the near future when the markets turns and apartments are still selling even now.

 

This drew considerable and sometimes heated discussion, partly centering on the fact that units were being sold despite there being doubts as to whether the building was ever going to be constructed. Now that 19 months have passed since we were all given HeyGay’s assurances, I decided to do some investigation. Of the personalities involved, I know little, and so will try to stick to facts as I have read them – quoting sources as required.

 

I started at Ocean 1’s own website which introduces the building thus –

 

The project will not only alter the skyline with Thailand’s tallest building, but set a new benchmark in upscale living. A new residence that combines the prestige of record-breaking scale with the pleasure of sophisticated details, material luxury with natural beauty, and a great location. A postcard destination for others which an exclusive few can call home.

 

http://www.ocean1tow.../index.php#home

 

The project seems to have first been announced in July 2006. Not only was the construction itself announced; its completion was also announced as 2010. With 2006 seeing the region in a period of considerable economic growth, units went on sale and deposits for some, it appears, were banked. The Nation reported on August 14 that units were selling for between Bt. 5.5 million to Bt. 150 million.

 

http://www.nationmul...ss_30011013.php

 

In March 2008, though, an article about real estate appeared under the title “Thailand’s tallest building: the towering inferno?” in which the developer said his company had not expected such a lengthy period for the Environmental Impact Assessment, and announced that construction was now due to start on March 30 that year.

 

http://thaicrisis.wo...economy/page/3/

 

Yet, an article on the pattayajomtiencondos.com blog claimed as early as 12 September 2008 that Ocean 1 had probably gone bust.

 

http://pattayajomtie...st-or-just.html

 

Despite this, in early 2010 the developer installed what it terms on the Ocean 1 website a “concrete batching plant” close to the site. It further announced on the LATEST NEWS section of its website that “World-renowned German company Bauer will handle the construction of the foundation.”

 

Oddly, at least to me, for a construction project of this size and complexity, this is the last item on the website under LATEST NEWS. Nothing for the last two and a half years! Since then, others have noted that the concrete being mixed had nothing to do with Ocean 1. It was instead destined for other building projects. And is the concrete for Ocean 1 now being mixed? Well, not on that site, for the batching plant has now been dismantled and is nowhere to be seen. The site is now empty.

 

Another odd piece of information on the Ocean 1 site is the section headed OUR PARTNERS. This announces Woods Bagot Thailand as its main design partner. Fact: Woods Bagot Thailand has not existed for several years. It is now the Beaumont Partnership. This site has a Portfolio page. Yet, for some reason, it cannot be accessed! Look at its blog. The blog was announced on January 23rd 2008 and would, readers were told “cover a wide-range of content from creative prospectives (sic) to the real world experiences.” That blog has all of two entries, the last being on May 4, 2010. The last monthly archive is also May 2010. Nearly two and a half years with no entries? Coincidence?

 

http://www.thebeaumo...rship.com/blog/

 

Another “Partner” is Connell Wagner (Thailand) Co. Ltd., a company established in 2001 as part of an international conglomerate. I tried to find some information about Ocean 1 on their websites. I found none.

 

So was the project dead? Not according to a blog site titled Pattaya Days. Now I know nothing about this site. The owner/writer, though, does seem to know quite a bit about the detail of the goings on surrounding Ocean 1. In one blog, he announces that Ocean 1 is alive, and quotes from an email by “Rob Astbury, the sales manager”, where he said in December 2009 –

 

“Last week we signed a contract with one of the largest construction companies in China and it is planned for construction to start in February 2010. It is anticipated the building will be compete in four years.”

 

http://www.pattayada...ean-1-is-alive/

 

What happened to that contract, many wondered, for construction did not commence? However, almost 18 months later, photos of that signing ceremony appeared in the same blog. This shows the CEO of Siam Best Enterprises, one Bruno Pingel, with a representative of Pan China Construction Group, allegedly with the contract for the construction of Ocean 1.

 

http://www.pattayada.../ocean-1-is-go/

 

The Pan China Construction Group Co. Ltd. would seem to have good credentials as it is under the direct administration of China’s Ministry of Construction. Its main website is in Chinese, but part is translated. Under the News section, there is zero information about Ocean 1. Does it have a Thailand office? Hard to tell from the map provided – but it looks unlikely.

 

And so what is the present situation now regarding Ocean 1? That’s really hard to say. The Pattaya Days blog in February 2012 has some dismissive information about Siam Best Enterprises abilities as managers of some of the projects it constructs, but nothing ‘concrete’ about Ocean 1. The author claims he is “cautiously pessimistic”.

 

http://www.pattayada...-of-foundation/

 

Having no definite conclusion about the state of play with Ocean 1, I called the developers today, intending to inform them I might be interested in purchasing an apartment. The first number I tried was the listed website sales office on Ploenchit 02 656 0234. No reply after five attempts around 2:00 pm. So I then called Siam Properties at 038 756 640. I eventually was transferred to a lady who spoke English. “We are not responsible for that property,” I was told. Who is, I asked? “You must call Pattaya Properties at 038 303 515.”

 

Before doing so. I looked up Pattaya Properties website. Sure enough, the first development on their first page is Ocean 1 Tower, although it refers people to the seemingly dead Ocean 1 website.

 

http://www.pattayapr...m/o1t_intro.php

 

Anyway, when I mentioned Ocean 1, I was put through to a French-sounding guy and we had a pleasant chat. I asked if units were available for sale. “Not yet.” Has construction started? “No.” When is this likely to happen? “Maybe next year. I am not sure.”

 

So, no construction, no date for the start of construction, no units for sale . . . where, I wonder, does that leave HeyGay’s confidential assurances of 19 months ago? And by the way, HeyGay, I will not take you up on your kind offer of dinner. Instead, I would prefer you to make a donation to the Pattaya Street Kids Charity.

[Bob]

Egads, Ocean 1 Redux! Khun FH is much too kind about this mythical project and, if any of the imagined "units" were in fact sold, somebody ought to have been prosecuted.

 

Last I looked (after repeated claims on its website that construction was partially under way), it was a fully un-excavated site with a concrete mixing platform making concrete for projects off-site. During my walk-through of the property, I saw zero evidence of any soils that had been "scooped" to begin this "amazing" project.