Officetels new feature on landscape

Best of both worlds: Bitexcoland’s new officetel apartments are half-office and half-hotel, ideal for business people on the go

Developed by Bitexcoland, the project is part of its multi-million dollar residential, office and shopping complex, under construction in Hanoi’s outlying Tu Liem district, aimed at catering for the ever-expanding business circles in Vietnam.
The development, called the Garden, will deliver 170 units that are hybrid office-apartments, a style of property popular in other regional cities but launched for the first time in Vietnam.
Bitexcoland has yet to announce the pricing policy but it’s marketing manager Le Phuong My Linh told Vietnam Investment Review each square metre would be sold for $1,200 to $1,500, higher than the average price of other residential developments in the city.
Linh said the officetel is designed to offer business people coming to Hanoi living and office space that an individual hotel room or office unit could not provide.
“An office building can only provide office space and a hotel accommodation, while the officetel supplies both,” she said.
The Garden provides four kinds of apartments ranging from 42 to 238sqm. The studio type includes a large living room that can double as a conference room for business purposes, plus a kitchen and a huge bedroom with an open balcony.
The two-bedroom apartment is an ideal option for a small or mid-sized family whilst the penthouses will be the lure for high-end owners.
There is a garden on the top of the building exclusively for penthouse owners.
Linh said the officetel complex would provide central reception, a conference room, an exhibition centre, business support and administrative services. She said the officetel complex’s target customers are representative offices of multinational companies, local businessmen and business-minded people on the go.
She added that Vietnamese would be able to purchase the officetel and rent it later to foreign companies setting up a representative office in Hanoi.
“Foreign companies are very interested in this type of development,” said Linh.
Also, an appeal for prospective officetel owners is they can eat, drink, relax and shop in a large shopping mall on the lower floors, said Linh.
The officetel is located from the sixth to 18th floor of the $32 million development that includes high-end shops on the first five floors. The complex is scheduled for completion in mid-2006.
The shopping mall will provide 20,500sqm of retail space, a large cinema complex, supermarket, restaurant, as well as a fitness centre and a swimming pool.
The mall has two basements with more than 12,700sqm of parking space.
Neil Thurston, associate director of Dinning and Associates, said developments of this nature are both common and successful in other countries.
“With the rapid economic development of Vietnam, and more so, consumer requirements becoming more sophisticated, projects of this nature are essential,” he said.
“Overall, taking into consideration build times and the development of infrastructure within this area, I am confident that the proposed development shall be very successful,” he added.
Bitexcoland chief executive officer Moon Kyoo Kim said the company decided to build two basements for parking since it believed the number of car owners in Vietnam would grow.
“Vietnam is one of the fastest growing countries in Asia and in the next five to 10 years people will have more cars,” said Kim.
The Korean American said he learnt from South Korean experience that some buildings in this country did not provide enough parking space and residents had to compete for a parking space.
The Garden would add value to the nearby residential project called the Manor with 500 units, also being developed by Bitexcoland.
The Manor is due to be completed in late 2005 and the apartments will be delivered to customers in February 2006.
Bitexcoland is also building another Manor project in Ho Chi Minh City with 426 units for sale to Vietnamese.
More than 70 per cent of the apartments have already been sold although construction will not be finished until December next year. It has announced plans to add a five-star hotel, an office building and a serviced apartment block by the middle of next year in the proximity of the Manor.