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Sometimes statistics can be quite boring. But in property, they can be interesting.

Think about this, in February 2018 – only 14 months ago – The Riviera Group launched The Riviera Monaco from the Sofitel Hotel located almost next door. Today, the building stands proud at almost 14 floors high and is still climbing fast. That’s quick numbers in any project’s history.

Winston and Sukanya Gale (owners of The Riviera Group) brought Monaco to life with sales reaching the 50% mark within just a few months. Seems they plan to keep everything fast paced judging by a quick drive past their stunning one-of-a-kind showroom and what now stands behind it. As my car pulls past, there you see it, already towering over their showroom, matching the height of Nam Talay next door and flexing its muscles to the nearby high rises, almost communicating in an unspoken way that a new daddy is in town and it will soon be the dominating force in the immediate area.

If you’re in property, you probably already know The Riviera Group brand now is regarded in property circles terms as the ‘Sansiri’ of Pattaya. Not necessarily the biggest developer by projects numbers in town, but certainly the market leaders for quality, design and overall originality. Therefore it goes without saying then that any area that sees a Riviera product launching in their neighbourhood certainly should appreciate the way they can upgrade an area just by its presence.

Sukanya and Winston Gale (owners of The Riviera Group).

So time to ask questions. To avoid asking a stupid question when I already know the answer, I asked an alternative:

REm: How far ahead are you in your building programme?

Winston Gale: We are roughly four months ahead of schedule, it’s an ideal position for us to be in as we have the huge cantilever pool area to deal with once we get to the 21st floor.

REm: Why, do you anticipate that to be a slow part of the building?

WG: Yes, exactly, that’s the very complicated area that has so many details and engineering calculations to follow. Being ahead of programme four months today will certainly help if things get really difficult at that floor. It is by far the largest cantilevered pool we’ve ever done so it’s going to be tricky.

REm: What are your sales like today?

WG: We are just over 75% sold, we’re happy with that as we launched 14 months ago and we have real buyers who have paid real money, not buyers who reserve units but don’t follow through.

REm: Why is there a lot of that in the market today?

WG: Yes, too much of it, not real buyers, just very short-term flippers. I think we have probably had to cancel 15% of the buyers since we launched.

REm: So you would have been 90% sold when including them?

WG: If you put it like that then yes, but the way I see them, they are not real buyers, so what we have today is the real position, nothing artificial, which is important.

REm: How long do you think you can keep this showroom before you need to remove it to complete the project?”

WG: “I think we can keep it comfortably until next summer, but, as you say, it will have to come down then.

My time is quickly done and it’s time to finish up. The Monaco Showroom is always a difficult place to leave; you could spend the day here luxuriating in its elegance (and cake)!

We will be back to follow Monaco’s progress later in the year.

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