To be built adjacent to the company’s flagship riverside mall, Asiatique, the tower will house hotels, shops and offices. Its energy-saving design will mean there’s the possibility of harnessing wind power, Wallapa said.
Asset World is separately in talks with three hotel chains for possible partnerships and already works with brands including Marriott and Hilton, she said.
The group has a number of other ambitious plans in the wings, too. It aims to build Thailand’s biggest convention hotel by the beach in Pattaya on Thailand’s east coast and is set to become the nation’s largest hotel owner by 2025 with more than 4,000 rooms in the pipeline. The group added $3 billion to Charoen’s fortune when it listed in Bangkok in October.
The development of the as-yet-unnamed skyscraper comes at a time Bangkok’s riverfront is experiencing a renaissance. Several luxury hotels have upped the ante, with a Four Seasons opening along the waterway and the venerable Mandarin Oriental nearing completion of its renovation.
Wallapa doesn’t have any plans to stop either.
“We have the debt capacity to add more projects,” she said. “We focus on scale. We’ll keep expanding.”
--With assistance from Hannah Dormido.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.