What is driving Central Pattana’s next growth phase?
Central Pattana, the retail development arm of Thailand’s Central Group, isn’t the only world-class mall operator in Southeast Asia. Still, it is arguably the most important in Thailand by virtue of its nationwide footprint and uniformly high-quality projects, which provide the only truly national real estate platform for retailers seeking a mall presence in the kingdom, not just in Bangkok but also outside it. If you are an H&M, a Muji, a Uniqlo, a Sunnies World, or, indeed, anybody who’s anybody, Central Pattana is going to be your go-to landlord. The ability to offer a unique menu of locations for global and domestic retailers drives foot traffic and rental growth not just in Bangkok but also in provincial cities, where the market is now often dense and wealthy enough to generate high sales volumes. The company didn’t disappoint, releasing its operational and financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2025.
The mood was decidedly upbeat: fourth quarter rental and service revenues were up 5.0 per cent year-on-year, bringing the total for 2025 to 43.7 billion Thai baht (US$1.4 billion), an increase of 4.1 per cent. After-tax profit was 18.8 billion baht (US$606 million), an increase of 12.6 per cent. The numbers were boosted by the opening of two big projects in September and October: Central Park in Bangkok and Central Krabi in the south of the country. Central Park is an eight-level vertical mall with a rooftop park attached to the Dusit Thani Hotel, while the Krabi project sprawls over a single level not much more than a stone’s throw from one of the world’s great ocean playgrounds.
Elements of the mixed-use strategy
More than 82 per cent of the company’s revenues in 2025 came from renting and servicing mall space, with a relatively small amount from office space. However, it also “densifies” its mall primary trading areas by building and operating hotels and residential projects. These projects are frequently co-located with the retail malls and feed customers to the shops, eateries and leisure facilities in the malls themselves. Apart from the retail shops, the malls have, among other things, high-end fitness centres, state-of-the-art cinemas, extensive play zones for children and a formidable suite of dining options. The company packages this whole ecosystem as a “retail-led mixed-use” strategy. It refers to the addition of hotels and residential components to create “centre-of-life destinations”.
In 2025, the only component of the business that struggled a little was the hotel segment, with a 2.4 per cent year-on-year revenue decline in the fourth quarter. Revenues were flat for the whole year. However, external factors were largely to blame: Thailand suffered a 7.2 per cent decline in international tourism arrivals in 2025 as the country’s reputation for safety continued to take a beating. The Chinese, in particular, do not care for mayhem when they go on holidays and they chose to go elsewhere. Thailand wants them back, but so do neighbouring countries like Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam that have their own versions of paradise to offer skittish tourists. Despite Thailand losing this tourist tug-of-war, at least temporarily, Central Pattana’s hotels stood up pretty well. In fact, occupancy for the hotels in the fourth quarter was a solid 77 per cent, up from 73 per cent in the same quarter of 2024.
Ambitious projects to come
Central Pattana ended the year with a portfolio of 60 malls, averaging 91 per cent occupancy. Eighteen of the malls are in Greater Bangkok, and the others are spread over 23 provinces. Those portfolio numbers will increase in 2026–27.
The company has announced an ambitious expansion of Central Phuket, another of its trophy projects around the other side of Phang Nga Bay from Krabi. The expansion will be focused on the luxury zone, with the addition of about 10,000sqm of leasable area. The first phase of the expansion is due to open in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The Phuket project isn’t the only one on the drawing board for 2026–27. There are a number of renovations in the works and some major new malls as well. Central Khon Kaen Campus, a retail/hotel/residential project in the northeastern provincial capital of Khon Kaen, is earmarked for opening in the second quarter. It is located about five kilometres north of the existing Central Khon Kaen super-regional mall.
The third and fourth quarters will be particularly busy: in addition to the Central Phuket expansion, the company aims to open two major projects in the north of Greater Bangkok. These are Central Northville, a mall with approximately 45,000sqm of leasable area, slated for the third quarter, and The Central, with another 100,000sqm of retail leasable area pencilled in for the fourth. Retailers looking to expand their presence in the north of the capital will be eager to watch the emergence of these projects over the course of the year. Two more major projects are slated for 2027, both in downtown Bangkok at Siam Square and Rama 9.
They are all community hubs now
Despite differing formats, sizes, geographic locations and performance, a common theme runs through the narrative of every Thai retail property operator: the concept of a “shopping centre” is being carefully rebranded as a “community hub”. This is exemplified by Central Pattana’s “Centre of Life destination” concept. Still, whatever the name, it all comes down to the same thing: retail property companies want to be a lot more than shopping places, or even shopping places with great dining. They want to be the new “town centres” with live/work/play characteristics. In Thailand, as in the rest of Southeast Asia, the opportunity to achieve this is real and, in some ways, it is already a reality, made possible by a unique intersection of climate, infrastructure and culture. Central Pattana itself, like its peers in the region, is geared to keep the merry-go-round of special events, attractions and new openings going, pulling in residents and tourists to its projects.
As the spring weather sets in across Southeast Asia, bringing boiling temperatures that will persist until the rainy season, for many people, the mall is the only place to be.
Further reading: What lies ahead for Thailand’s retail giants?
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