Blue Elephant And FICO Partner in Old Town Venture

The historic Sino-Portuguese shophouse area of old Phuket town (now city) has lured the famed Blue Elephant restaurant chain the hotel group FICO. Currently the venture is upgrading the 150 year old Phra Pitak Chinpracha Mansion at the intersection of Krabi and Satun Road. A 300 seat Blue Elephant restaurant is set to open before the end of the year and possible addition of a Thai cooking school later on.
Bangkok based FICO developed the Grand Millennium Sukhumvit Hotel in the Asoke area, and have stakes in 4 large hotel projects including Novotel Fenix Ploenchit, Hotel, Hotel Muse (managed by Accor's MGallery collection, in Samui a Marriott resort and Holiday Inn on Sukhumvit Soi 22. This year they entered into a joint venture with the boutique Eugenia hotel to develop another branded product under the same name.
With the continued international hotel supply increases in the area east of Phuket City including the newly opened Radisson Plaza in Cape Panwa, soon to open Westin Siray Bay Resort and Four Points by Sheraton Makham Bay there is increasingly the need for more demand generators in the old town area.