Hong Kong builder Swire Properties is about to develop its second retail project in Shanghai.
In Pudong’s Qiantan area, an international business centre being developed by the city government, the venture follows the opening of Swire’s HKRI Taikoo Hui mall with 90 per cent occupancy in November.
Swire has agreed to acquire a 50 per cent equity interest in Shanghai Qianxiu, a company that holds the land-use rights to a retail site in Qiantan, from state-owned Shanghai Newbund Company for RMB1.3 billion (US$213 million). The deal follows through on a preliminary agreement signed more than two years ago between the Swire and the Pudong district government enterprise.
Swire Properties CEO Guy Bradley says the group believes Pudong has significant long-term growth potential.
Shanghai Newbund Company is a JV between Lujiazui Group, the developer behind the Lujiazui business zone in Pudong, and Shanghai Qiantan International Business District Investment, which commissioned UK architecture firm Benoy to masterplan the Qiantan commercial hub.
The equity transfer agreement followed 30 months of negotiations between the Hong Kong developer and Shanghai Newbund Company. In August 2015, Swire said a framework agreement had been entered to develop a 124,000sqm mall in the area south of Lujiazui in Pudong.
The updated plan for the retail project has a gross floor area of about 116,000sqm, 8000sqm less than the plan three years ago. The plot will be connected to a metro station served by three of Shanghai’s subway lines.
