Central reveals details of new B13bn Phuket complex

Just over 10 years after it first opened, the Central Festival Phuket complex is about to expand onto the third corner of the intersection on which it sits.

The site, where the local Aikwanich family’s Tai Naan restaurant used to be, has now been cleared for the B12.7 billion Central West project, and is expected to be completed “by 2017”.

The complex will cover 300,000 square metres and house around 400 stores. Central Pattana pcl (CPL) told The Phuket News today that anchor stores will include CDS, PowerBuy, SuperSports, Central Food Hall, B2S, EATHAI, World Class Attraction and HomeWorks, all Central brands.

There will also be a convention hall, though no details are yet available, along with an amusement park, an aquarium, a world-class ice-skating rink and “a natural forest”.

CPL said the new complex will be “The masterpiece of Phuket [with]a cutting-edge design: A mega world-class design shopping center from Central Group seamlessly combin[ing]three projects with three different concepts together in the best location on Phuket”.

The complex, it added, will become a “must-visit destination … that will attract tourists from around the world”.

The second phase of the complex, Central East, was created at the end of 2012 in an effort to generate traffic and rentals for the ground floor of what was then Homeworks. Despite the B100 million revamp, it still remains quiet compared with its big sister across the bypass, Central Festival.