New retail player Van Thai Land to rekindle ‘old’ brand

Among several new commercial centers set to open in Ho Chi Minh City this year is District 8’s Parc Mall, marking the rekindling of an “old” brand by “new” developer Van Thai Land.

While it is a newcomer in the retail market, Van Thai Land is a familiar name in the HCMC real estate market, with a series of apartment and social housing projects under the Topaz brand, including Topaz Homes, Topaz City and Topaz Elite.

Established in 1999, Van Thai Land operates in the fields of construction and real estate with Dinh Thi Tuyet as its legal representative. Tuyet is also chairwoman of Thuan Kieu Trade & Agricultural Services JSC.

Parc Mall will be placed in the heart of the Topaz Elite and Topaz City complex developed by Van Thai Land and Song Da Urban Investment Construction & Development JSC, at 547-549 Ta Quang Buu street, Ward 4, District 8.

The project is part of efforts by the District 8 administration to beautify urban areas and relocate shacks and houses along its canals.

It has taken a series of decisions since 2010, including the approving a sports-tourism-culture project in the south of Ta Quang Buu street and selecting an investor for the 15.7-hectare project, with an estimated total investment of VND4.35 trillion ($170.89 million).

On August 31, 2015, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee approved the investment in a component project of office, hotel, and apartment complex under the above project, and on October 19, 2015, it issued a decision on land allocation to Van Thai Land to implement the sub-project.

The decision allocated 40,018 square meters of land in the south of Ta Quang Buu street, Ward 4, District 8 for Van Thai Land to build the complex. Of the total land area, 12,164 sqm was meant for apartments; 1,811 sqm for hotels and offices; 1,100 sqm for a primary school; 19,170 sqm for parks and 5,773 sq.m for internal roads.

More supermarkets, shopping malls

Real estate experts have said that rapid urbanization in HCMC will see continued strong growth of supermarkets and shopping malls.

Do Thi Xuan Trang, retail services manager at Avison Young Vietnam, said that despite economic fluctuations in the past two years, domestic and foreign retailers have continued to expand in Vietnam.

Developers are optimizing the use of different land funds as they look to exploit the trend of developing commercial centers in downtown areas, she said.

Real estate developers are now joining hands with individual investors to rent shophouses more effectively, devising strategies to fully tap rental space with clear marketing campaigns and long-term leases to optimize profit margins, she added.

“Therefore, Vietnam's retail real estate market is expected to be vibrant with abundant and more diverse supply starting this year,” she said.

In early April, Aeon Vietnam opened 5,000 sqm of supermarket floor at the Cresent Mall in District 7.

From now until the end of the year, at least three new shopping mall projects are set to be launched: Central Premium Mall and Parc Mall in District 8 and Vincom Mega Mall Grand Park in Thu Duc city.

With retail space in downtown areas almost full, new projects are tending to move to rapidly growing eastern and western parts of the city that have increasingly well connected urban infrastructure and present great potential for price increases.