Pattaya beach aspires to become Billionaire Street

A 285 million baht house under construction on Jomtien’s Dongtan beach is being promoted as located in the resort’s “Billionaire Street”. Ametus Development is building an ultra-luxurious pool villa with a 44 meter beachfront with unrestricted sea views. The actual name of this stretch of paving is Beach Road Extension, but the novel suggestion that the district is a billionaire’s paradise could take root if more super-expensive projects are undertaken in several plots of land still carrying for sale notices.



The first generally-proclaimed Billionaire Street (actually a Row) was New York’s 57^th Street in Manhattan which still houses some of the most expensive housing in the entire world. Then there’s Bengaluru, India’s IT capital, with a very wealthy enclave with exclusive residences, now generally known as Billionaire Street. Another candidate for the name is Bishop’s Row in north London which is a very exclusive 66 mansion zone catering to the wealthiest globe trotters.

The idea that Pattaya is competing against these golden districts is obviously a non-starter. Nonetheless, the exaggerated notion is in line with the attempts to redesign the city to cater for wealthy groups as well as horny bachelors on vacation or zero-sum group tourists. Pattaya is in the middle of the Eastern Economic Corridor, a multi-billion baht international project, which has already transformed parts of the province and beyond into a high-tech import-export zone with massively improved motorways and infrastructure.

Donald Mills, a marketing guru currently on assignment in Pattaya, said, “Linking Pattaya to the global rich is already part of the strategy of the Thai government and City Hall. You see it, for example, in the new 10-year visas primarily aimed at Asian millionaires. Once the pandemic is over, you will see a huge demand from Chinese investors in particular for very expensive properties here.” He added, “The changes that Pattaya has seen in the last 10 years in particular are not the final chapter, more the introduction.”