|
Shanghai: China's tallest building, the 101-storey Shanghai World Financial Centre, will open to the public tomorrow, 14 years after its developer, visionary Japanese property tycoon Minoru Mori, began the project.
Mori expressed relief yesterday at having finally finished the project after years of stop-and-go progress on what he says is the building with the world's highest rooftop, at 1,614 feet (492 metres) and highest observation deck, but said he was eager for more big projects.
"We have started to explore possibilities," the 74-year-old developer said, adding , "we haven't made any decisions." Mori acquired the Shanghai site in 1994 and began piling work in 1997 - just as the Asian financial crisis hit. The land sat idle until 2003.
The project hit the market at a time when the Chinese property market appears to finally have cooled after several years of torrid growth, although space is tight for top-grade office space - exactly what Mori has to offer.
Mori Building Co, which holds 70 per cent of the equity in the project, says the building's currency occupancy rate is 45 per cent and is expected to rise to 90 per cent within one year. Tenants include top Japanese financial companies, including Sumitomo Mitsui Banking and Mizuho Corporate Banking, as well as BNP Paribas of France and Germany's Commerzbank.
At $3 per square metre rent per day, space in the building is pricey.
But Mori said he was confident that the market will hold up, despite signs of trouble for some local property developers.
"Total office space in Shanghai is not so large," he said. "There is not enough taking into account the business potential of the city," he added.
"If you supply a good space, then the demand will follow," he added.
Dizzying views
From its 101st floor observation deck, with transparent patches of flooring that allow visitors dizzying views to ground level, the view of Shanghai is sweeping and spectacular, reaching far beyond the bristling skyscrapers that dominate the city's horizon.
The silver spire of the 1,381-foot Jinmao Tower next door, formerly the city's tallest building, lie far below.
Mori's visions of a "vertical garden city" have transformed his hometown Tokyo's landscape with mammoth, mixed-use redevelopment projects such as Roppongi Hills, Ark Hills and Atago Green Hills.
"There's no other city as interesting as Tokyo," he said. "We still plan other developments to totally transform the city."
But other Asian cities - Singapore, Seoul, Sydney, Dubai - also appeal.
"We are looking at sites where we can realise our plans for vertical garden cities," he said. "There are many interesting cities." "Who needs us and who is ready to receive us? These are the questions we are asking ourselves," Mori said.
|
