City officials will go to court to force the demolition of South Pattaya’s Boutique Hotel nearly a year after discovering the owner illegally added four floors and violated building codes with an under-construction annex.
Deputy Mayor Verawat Khakhay, city council President Tawit Chaiswangwong and city engineer Samran Phanpreecha inspected the Soi 17 hotel site July 3 and heard complaints of area residents about compressor noise and wastewater releases.
The officials were exasperated at what they found: construction on a second Boutique Hotel building was still proceeding, despite repeated stop-work orders from city hall.
City Hall is threatening court action to tear down South Pattaya’s Boutique Hotel nearly a year after discovering the owner illegally added four floors and violated building codes with an under-construction annex.
Owned by Jomtien Holiday Co., managed by Alongkorn Saewang, the Boutique was found last autumn to have added four floors to its permitted seven without permit or inspection. Additionally, the company was building a second tower, leaving less than the required six meters between structures, a violation of city building and fire codes.
The Building Control Office ordered work stopped on the new building and for the company to prohibit use of the illegal floors in existing hotel. Both orders went unheeded, as did a second stop-work order issued a month later.
On January 30, the city Engineering Office condemned the building, ordering Jomtien Holiday to demolish the structure within 60 days. Not only was that order ignored, but construction continued as before.
Khakhay said the only recourse left now for the city to file a lawsuit to get a court order for the owner to demolish the building. If that order is ignored, Pattaya will send the complaint to the Chonburi governor’s office, which can give the city authority to demolish the building on its own and bill Jomtien Holiday.
During their latest inspection, officials also learned Alongkorn had bought several other buildings in the Chaimongkol Temple neighborhood and was illegally renovating them. City hall now plans to take actions against those structures as well.
