Siam Royal View’s Treasure Island
As soon as Roland Steiner saw it – he knew. The land mass in the northeast corner of Koh Chang was where he wanted to build his next project. It took a short call to his fellow investors (the same group that financed the Siam Royal View Villa Project in Pattaya) and the rest is history. Siam Royal View is now one of the most spectacular development projects on the Eastern Seaboard.
All of Roland’s properties have started the same way: he was looking for land to build a dream home for himself and his family. This was same in Pattaya, where he found a beautiful tract of land on hill overlooking the ocean, and he decided that’s where he wanted to build his house. The problem was he bought too much land for just one house and the Siam Royal View Villas in Pattaya ensued. In Koh Chang, it was just the same, he wasn’t looking for a second big project; he was just looking for a beach house for his family.
What makes the Koh Chang project special? “The property is surrounded by ocean on both sides, and wherever the land is not bordering the ocean, it’s bordering the national park,” says this Swiss-born Mr. Steiner. “This makes it very unique.”
The project has an existing private pier, which has been renovated and turned into a private pier (a speedboat traveling at 40 knots can reach the Siam Royal View pier on the mainland in six minutes, where residents can either park their cars, or have them valeted to the island).
Close to the pier will be a water-sports centre where you can go boating, waterskiing, with a dive school, kite-boarding and windsurfing. The adjoining peninsula has hiking trails and will also have two mountain bike trails. Roland says you can mountain bike or hike to nearby Three Elephant Beach, then swim or kayak across to the little island of Koh Chang Noi. There’s also one long continuous coral reef, where you can do some spectacular power snorkeling.
Some people have already moved in to the project on Koh Chang, but the first significant number of residents will arrive by high season,when Roland hopes to have 20 home soperational (as a matter of prudence, no forward looking numbers please). When the project is finished he hopes to have 300 homes (depending on plot sub-division) and 210 low-rise condominium units, which cannot be higher than three floors (fourteen condo units per block, which will be situated 50 metres from the beach). The plots are 9-metres wide, and some residents have even bought 5 plots together. Further back, you can build multi-story structures, but on the beachfront you can only build one and a half stories high (the ground floor plus the roof).
Siam Royal View will also have its own marina, which will be run by a marina management company (Roland is adamant that Siam Royal View will hire experienced companies to run the auxiliary businesses so the company can focus on real estate.).
There will be 75 wet berths in the marina (all for sale), which you can keep, or rent out, and the marina management company will take care of them for you. There will be about 20 private moorings as well, and a dry-dock facility for 150 boats, including racks for smaller craft (the river has been excavated and the marina is in the process of excavation, with Roland hoping to have parts of it it operational by year’s end.) There will be a bar and restaurant at the marina (old fishermen’s huts built on stilts, which have been renovated.)
When it comes to ownership of the homes, foreigners can buy condominiums following Thai government guidelines. These can also lease a property, or they can take freehold possession (some put it in their spouse’s name), while others form companies.
Hotel prices on Koh Chang are very high in high season; the island is fully booked and always short of hotel rooms. This is because eighty percent of the island is national park, so all the slopes and green hills will stay green. You do not have to fear the rapid overdevelopment that has plagued Koh Samui and Phuket.
And since the price of land went up so quickly on Koh Chang, you will not get an abundance of rudimentary concrete structures dotting the countryside. Now, any land that gets bought out is developed into a 5-star property, and the ugly-looking structures that do exist are getting bought out because the land prices are so high.
Siam Royal View is currently working with Bangkok Hospital on putting in a helipad and setting up a helicopter shuttle service (a one-hour flight to Bangkok). There’s also a doctor on site and BKK Hospital has a clinic on the island.
Some residents live in Pattaya and use Siam Royal View as their weekend destination.
It’s truly a miniature United Nations as 23 nationalities have established residency so far.
Roland wants the project to blend in with the environment and leave the smallest possible imprint. And he has gone to great lengths to make that so.
Visit Siam Royal View on Koh Chang and you won’t want to leave.
visit www.siam-royal-view.com or contact us for an immediate site visit and introduction.
