Chiang Mai’s trendiest street booms
When Starbucks arrives on your street, you either lament the shameless globalisation that’s ruining your neighbourhood, or you gleefully double the percieved value of your nearby property. Residents and property owners on Nimmanhemin Street are equally ambivalent about the latest addition to Chiang Mai’s trendiest street.
The Nimminhemin area has seen rapid changes in the past two years, but the most recent six months have rendered parts of it unrecognisable with the completion of several mini-plazas and retail developments. Instead of dilapitated rows of family-owned shop houses, the public are now treated to trendy looking shop-fronts full of designer bakes, coffee-sipping students and convenience items. Noodle shops have disappeared under the onslaught of colourful brand names like 7-eleven, Quality Pharmacy, Starbucks and Siam Commercial Bank. And the arrival of these large franchises signals an undeflatable confidence in the area’s value and poses exciting prospects for leasing to other retail outlets keen to be clustered here. Furthermore, the development of the main road is pushing up demand in the adjacent sois as businesses encroach on the residential area.
Popularly frequented by the city’s burgeoning ex-pat community and within walking distance of Chiang Mai University, Nimmanhemin Street has long been considered the city’s most liveable area. It remains out of the reach of the bustling tourist area downtown, yet sophisticated enough to satisfy the needs of Chiang Mai’s wealthy. Lined with dÈcor shops, trendy boutiques, rustic coffee shops and suitable restaurants, Nimmanhemin (as the street and area are collectively known) is a focal point for the more desirable Western suburbs of the city that enjoy closer proximity to the mountain. The adjacent ‘Nimmanhemin’ section of Rin Kham suburb is as close as the city suburbs get to an ‘avenues’ neighbourhood and is perhaps the only area in Chiang Mai that resembles any kind of upper market zoning. Houses here change hands for no less than eight figures and a Nimmanhemin address is as good as a Volvo or Mecerdes in the status stakes. It’s also conveniently close to the city yet fairly peaceful and quiet, with the Suan Dawk and Ram I hospitals and Kad Suan Kaew mall within walking distance. Guide to living in Chiang Mai.
The street itself takes its name from one of Chiang Mai’s most prestigious families - the Nimmanhaemindas, who once owned much of the land that the area now encompasses. At only two kilometres long, Nimmanhemin Street runs between two main city arteries; Suithep road and Huay Kaew road, and is punctuated by the Amari Rincome Hotel at the Northern end and the University Convention Centre and Arts Museum at the other. The area was developed in the early seventies, shortly after the establishment of the University of Chiang Mai, and many of the houses reflect the architectural vogue of the time with single-plane angled roofs, loft style ceilings and red-faced brick finishing. And almost all the properties boast mature, manicured gardens, giving the suburb a leafy and spacious appeal. Although property on the main street is especially hot at present, the residential properties down the sois are also highly sort after and considered by most property agents to be a safe investment. The two blocks sandwiched between Nimmanhemin Street and Sri Mankalajarn road to the east form the most desirable area, which is almost entirely upmarket, while the sois further east - closer to the Kad Suan Kaew mall come a close second. Even west of Nimmanhemin Street, where the sois revert to a more traditional village style and contain some cumbersome condos, some valuable properties can be found tucked away down quiet lanes.
But it is the main Nimmanhemin street that is really in demand at present, with at least one new commercial project under construction at present and several smaller ones taking shape. Earlier in the year the Nimman Promenade opened, cashing in on the street’s reputation for designer dÈcor shops. The latest retail project to open is the Tall Teak Plaza on the corner of soi 9, in which the new Starbucks in situated. Comprising two levels, it is tastefully decorated with a public balcony access to the upper level shops. While directly opposite is the year-old, futuristic glass-and-steel Scoopy Ice shop. The potential hasn’t escaped the attention of residential developers and the twin towered, eight-storey Baan Thai condo block was completed in the same area earlier in the year, leasing middle market apartments - most of which are now occupied. Below it is a new, US-franchised Powerhouse gym that certainly isn’t priced for the riff raff.
The older Hillside 3 condo, further along the same side of the street, is popular with foreigners and contains some reasonable units for sale, along with some empty shells, but is not considered very high end. Doi View Condo, on soi 9, is another recent development which has lease-only units (short and long term) and has been successful since its completion in mid 2004. The Loft restaurant on its roof boasts the Shinawatras as infrequent guests. The house and townhouse market in this area is particularly worth looking at for investment purposes. The area is highly sort after by middle class Thais with old money or ex-pats looking for convenience. An increasing amount of properties have been snapped up by restaurants and small businesses, such as doctors, dentists, languages schools and accountants. Then there is also the ever-growing number of new spas that value the area for its serene atmosphere and garden environment. Restaurants of Chiang Mai.
Nimmanhemin Soi 1 is particuarly highly valued as a magnet for exclusive dÈcor and interiors shops, and this cul-de-sac host the annual Nimminhemin Arts and Design festival in early December. From humble beginnings 10 years ago when Khun Wichit, a well known character in the local arts scene, opened Gong Dee Gallery, the area has developed into a charming lane of quaint décor shops. The soi now sets the tone for this end of Nimmanhemin Street, attracting Japanese shoppers who couldn’t be bothered to haggle over prices in Baan Tawai, and discerning NGO workers with an eye for Asian tastes. Gong Dee regularly hosts gala theatre evenings, and with its distinctive contemporary Chiang Mai style of balinese gardens and petite ‘coffee and cake venues’, Soi 1 hints at what the entire Nimmanhemin area could become. All the land on the north side of the soi is owned by the adjacent Amari Hotel but the shops here are beginning to spill over into adjacent sois.
“It’s not just the main street which is attracting attention. Restaurants and coffee shops, like Wawee for instance, are settling for locations down the sois.” Says one local developer. “ Parking and traffic is a problem now on Nimmanhemin and the sois are quieter and better for garden restaurants and businesses” he adds. “I definitely see a long term movement off the street, maybe in five years time we’ll have several sois similar to soi 1”.
Nimmanhemin street itself is equally busy at night, thanks to an increasing number of restaurants and entertainment magnets. One of these is the trendy Room #1 arcade which has tucked its restaurants and bars away from the street. The ultra-chic and sophisticated Glass Onion is one of them, developed by its Asian-American owner as a retirement project after he spent thirty years in the hospitality industry in New York City. He’s a relative newcomer to Chiang Mai but the buzz and character of Nimmanhemin immediately caught his eye. Another businessman with confidence in the area is the owner of the popular new restaurant, Khun Nai Dern Sai which is 100m off the main street on soi 11. Although a resident of Bangkok, he is particularly fond of the area and likens it to parts of the Sukhumwit area. “It’s a nice mixture between business and residential”, he says. “I hope [the town planners] consider the character of the area and keep it beautiful”. His restaurant is popular with Thai and foreigners alike and was custom designed on the empty land he wisely snatched up three years ago. Shopping in Chiang Mai.
But not everyone is keen on the over-commercial development of their neighbourhood. Long term resident, Dr Chayan Vaddhanaphuti, has lived here for more than two decades and his family were one of the first to buy land in the area way back in the fifties. In fact, as he explains, his father originally envisaged the property as an escape from the increasing bedlam they were experiencing living near Wororat market in the city centre. Now Khun Chayan is considering moving further out for some peace and quiet.
“I think there are several issues here” he explains above the noise of an angle grinder in the background. “We welcome the development on the main road, but we are not pleased with the ‘selling shops’ in the sois. This area should be residential, it’s becoming a problem in terms of parking and noise.” There is however no resident’s association and building or renovating in the suburb is continuing at a frenetic pace. Land owners might be content with the increasing value of the area but some residents are clearly growing weary.
“With the restaurants comes noise, lots of loud karaoke and bands that goes on late”, says a local tenant in one of the few condos that have managed to enter this low-rise oasis. “It’s convenient for eating and drinking but these trendy bars like Monkey Club and Old School pull the young crowd with their noisy bikes, I’ve complained to the police but nothing ever gets done about it”.
None-the-less, the area remains peacefully quiet by the usual standards of typical Thailand suburbs, where ongoing construction is now a way of life. Few people seem to be offloading their properties and demand among renters remains high. A morning of enquiring with local agents about available properties revealed that supply is rather thin and prices fairly inflated by Chiang Mai standards. One 280m² house on 223 square wa was going for 16m baht, while another four storey shop house on 44 square wa was on the market for 4.3m baht. Rentals of a three storey town house are in the region of 15,000 baht for approx 250m² on the sois and as much as 35,000 baht for 100 m² on the main street, although the range varies wildly depending on position and age of the building. The price for land starts at about 30,000 baht per wa here compared to about 15,000 baht in the new housing projects or 10,000-15,000 baht in suburbs beyond the university.
Another issue that is hanging over the fate of the street’s future is the city planners’ threat to widen the street and turn it into a multi-lane extension of the Super Highway. This plan has been rumoured for more than a year but would be difficult to carry out due to the value of property lining this busy thoroughfare. It would certainly ruin the character of the street but some sort of expansion is eventually necessary. Some days of the week there is a steady stream of congestion from 3pm through until late evening as the two ‘parking’ lanes compete with the remaining two lanes of traffic. The west side of the street has sufficient pavement clearance to accommodate an additional lane but the increasing traffic is steadily choking the shopping and eating atmosphere. This is another reason for encroachment down the sois. Nimmanhemin Street also acts as a major conduit through the western side of Chiang Mai, forming a link between the Super Highway and the (limited access) Wing 41 road, which provides convenient access to the airport. Once this road is turned over to the city administration the area will certainly become busier although not necessarily for business.
For the time being there is no exodus of residents to new suburbs, and the ever increasing flow of small businesses seeking premises in the area is keeping demand high. The rise of property values here might be outpacing rental rates but even casual observers won’t deny that the area has been rapidly transforming into a leisure-commercial hub.
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