by Dr. Iain
Corness
If
you want the classic story of a self-confessed “bad boy” who made
good, you need go no further than Nivat Lamunpandh, one of the driving
forces behind the Baan Dheweran million dollar villas development in
Jomtien. He is also a man who believes that he can help elevate Pattaya as
a beach resort to international standing and renown.
Nivat was born in Bangkok, the eldest son of a factory
manager and his wife. Nivat’s competitive urge was born the minute his
younger siblings arrived. “I was the first one. I love to be the first
one in everything. We are the first with one million dollar villas
here,” he said proudly.
He was sent to good schools in Bangkok, but Nivat did
not describe himself as a very assiduous student. “Middle, maybe down. I
was a bad boy before,” he said while laughing at himself. He continued,
“I am a success (today) because I didn’t spend my brain too much at
school!”
When he was coming to the end of his schooling, his
family urged their first born to become a lawyer or join the police force.
Nivat thought either might be a good career choice too. “I wanted to do
something for ‘people’, to give them something that was fair and
just.” However, his grades were not good enough to enter the police
academy or law school, so he entered Ramkamhaeng University to do a four
year course in Political Science with Law as his major.
The ‘bad boy’ image was still with Nivat, as he
took eight years to complete the four year course, and dropped Law as he
found he had to wake up too early to find the time to study the subject!
However, it was time for him to join the work force and
he took an embassy job as an assistant attach้. It was then that he
realized he needed English, and so spent two years with AUA to become
proficient in the lingua franca of the world. “To speak Thai only, is
impolite,” said the very polite Nivat.
After three years in the embassy, Nivat looked towards
his future and could see there was not really that much chance of
advancement, so began to look at what he could do in the business world.
Remember that this is a man who wants to be first, and
at that time, the concept of condominium life was just arriving in
Thailand. “This was the first time Thais looked at hi-rise living,” he
said.
Believing that this was they way of the future, he took
a job as the manager of a condominium. This was not because he wanted to
live in a condo himself, but because he wanted to know and understand what
was needed by people who did.
From being the manager of one condo block he moved into
the real estate business proper, as the property manager for condominiums
and housing developments for a large group in Bangkok.
The next step up, for the man who wants to be number
one, was to become the project manager for a firm of real estate
developers. All this time he was adding to his own knowledge, but felt
that by staying only in Thailand, his viewpoint was becoming too insular.
To correct this, he took off on a world tour to see where the market was
heading. This included the US, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia
and Canada. “I wanted to open my eyes to come back to develop the real
estate business in my country.”
He also joined the world real estate standards group,
based in France, the FIABCI. “I joined because I wanted to inform and
improve the standards in Thailand to be equal to the best in the world.”
In fact, Nivat is off to the FIABCI world congress to be held in Houston
Texas this year, and one of his ambitions is to bring that congress to
Thailand within the next couple of years. “I want the world to see that
Thailand is (now) reaching world standards.”
By now he was acting as a consultant to many real
estate developers and one of these was Pongstorn Sangruji, whose family
owned several tracts of land along the Pattaya and Jomtien coastline. 14
years ago they registered the Golden Sands Condominium at Jomtien, and
this was later to become an integral part of the Baan Dheweran project.
In the interim, Nivat became the executive director of
the BM Group in Bangkok, a development outfit that had over 40 projects
going in Bangkok alone. Nivat, the ‘bad boy’ who had taken eight years
for a four year course was now working harder than he had ever done
before!
As part of the work, he had to go to Phuket and oversee
the work being done around the marina, and saw the values rise to five
million dollars for prime developments. He returned to Pattaya and said to
his friend Pongstorn, “Remember the Golden Sands land? Let’s develop
it!” Those 16.5 rai were the start of the Baan Dheweran development!
Nivat believes that Pattaya is on the edge of a boom.
It is the closest beach to Bangkok, and even closer for visitors after the
new airport is opened. “I saw this happen in Phuket. Now it is
Pattaya’s turn.” He cites the commercial development that has taken
place already, with tourist attractions and supermarkets as just being
part of it. “From me you are buying more than property - you are buying
service too,” he said proudly.
I asked about hobbies and he said, “My hobby is here,
showing Baan Dheweran to friends!” After this he has more ideas,
including a six star hotel.
Nivat firmly believes that the private sector can develop Pattaya to be
a prime location, every bit as good as Florida or Australia’s Gold
Coast. “We just have to change the mind-set of the people,” he said.
If anyone can do it, I am sure Nivat can.
