Casa Meridian Condo, a twin-tower complex on Koh Pich (Diamond Island) is currently building a showroom and will hold a ground-breaking ceremony as early as next month, according to the project’s marketing manager, Oum Bun An.

According to Bun An, the showroom will operate as an office for the company, as a well as a sales centre. She also confirmed that a ground-breaking ceremony would be held some time in March, and the overall project would be completed in 2017.

The latest plans, she added, involved adding two more floors to the original plan for two 31-storey towers, making the residential complex 33 storeys when it is completed.

She added that the complex will also feature 16 commercial structures that can be used for business purposes in front of and behind the twin apartment towers.

The first three floors of both towers will also be available for commercial purposes, with apartments for sale from the fourth floor up.

The highest floors of the tower will provide service amenities such as a gym, a barbecue area, and tennis courts.

“We’ve seen a lot of interest in this project so far, but we haven’t accepted any bookings, because we want to make the condominiums available to the public at the same time, and we will be offering special discounts,” she said.

Bun An said that financing will be available for property buyers in cooperation with Canadia Bank, adding that prices for units are expected to range from $80,000 to $1 million.

The Casa Meridian Condo project promises modern amenities, including sound proofing, and it is the second twin-tower residential complex to be announced recently.

Bonna Realty Group and Singaporean company The Bridge recently announced they would be building a 45-storey twin-tower, residential property in Tonle Bassac commune, not far from the Australian embassy.

Bun An said she expected Casa Meridian to be successful because it had a head start on other properties planned for the rapidly developing Diamond Island. Even if competitors follow in the project’s wake, she said, Casa Meridian has “special features” that will make it compelling to property buyers.

General manager of Diamond Island, Touch Somnang, said that the project developer is an investor from Hong Kong that bought the land from the Overseas Cambodia Investment Cooperation (OCIC).

Somnang declined to name the investor or the size of the investment.

On the question of competition between the 27-storey Diamond Island Riviera and Casa Meridian, Somnang agreed the two developments were close to each other, but added that he didn’t expect that to be a problem given the strong growth potential of the Phnom Penh property sector.

Cheng Kheng, president of the Cambodian Valuers and Estate Agents Association, said that in light of recent economic improvements, the development of new apartment complexes will good for the Kingdom in anticipation of increased demand in when full ASEAN integration materializes in 2015.

“Right now, the supply of condominiums is not in excess of but Cambodia has few skyscrapers compared to other countries in the region,” Kheng said. “These new developments on Diamond Island, however, are being built due to an anticipated rise in demand as Phnom Penh becomes a more important destination for investment,” he said.