The Industrial Giant Reborn - Chapter 642

c633 New Harbor City and Pudong Port

“Shopping mall?” Director Lin was stunned for a moment and asked, “How big is it?”

As the reform progresses, many existing business models in foreign countries are gradually introduced into the country. This can also avoid many detours in the country. For example, the most basic retail supermarkets in China used to be mainly department stores, but now , when supermarkets are popular abroad, the newly opened ones in China are basically supermarkets.

Among them, RT-Mart owned by the person in front of him is the most active. As far as he knows, RT-Mart has more than 200 stores in more than 20 cities in China. Especially in Shanghai, each district has an average of more than 2 RT-Mart stores. , because of its excellent service, lower prices and better quality, it has obviously become the favorite shopping place for urban residents in Shanghai.

Director Lin also knows about shopping malls. He has visited and inspected many countries in the past two years.

“Director Lin, I wonder if you have been to Harbor City in Hong Kong?” Chen Zhiwen asked.

“Haigang City? I went there 5 years ago. I have to say that Harbor City is the largest shopping mall I have ever been to.” Director Lin just finished speaking, and he also reacted and asked: “Mr. Chen means that in Pudong, there are also A shopping mall as big as Harbor City?”

“Yes, I have this idea, and although Hong Kong’s Harbor City is large, it is the result of many years of reconstruction, and many aspects are difficult to satisfy. If it is built directly, the design will be in place at once, and many aspects will be done. It is even more complete than Harbor City.” Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

Harbor City, in the 1950s, was still a large port with a large area. Before the container era, ocean shipping of ships required a lot of manpower and land for loading and unloading. In the late 1960s, containers began to gradually become popular. After the traditional manpower port declined and a large amount of land was left vacant, Real Estate built a harbor city here.

It’s just that neither the vision at the time nor the funds to buy land could have built it to the scale it is today in one go. The current Harbor City was also built and demolished step by step. Although it is not visible because it is large enough, No matter what shortcomings there are, it is still not as good as the initial one-time design.

“Do you really mean what Chen Sheng said?” Director Lin couldn’t help but asked nervously. Once such a large shopping mall and the several buildings that Chen Zhiwen just mentioned are really built, it will be considered a big deal for the Pudong Development Zone. A very good start. Not only are there large-scale projects, but such projects, once started, can also bring huge tax revenue to the government, not to mention the tens of thousands of jobs it will bring.

Moreover, in the long run, a super shopping mall similar to Harbor City is of much greater significance to Pudong than any office building. First of all, after the office building is built, it basically collects rent and cannot create many jobs, while shopping malls need A large number of people come to work, which can also stimulate consumption and increase the government’s long-term tax revenue. Secondly, it can drive the tourism industry in Pudong and even Shanghai. Not only foreign tourists, but also many domestic people in recent years also like to go to big cities. When shopping in supermarkets or shopping malls, the first batch of wealthy people generally like to go to such “high-end” places to live, enjoy and consume.

“Of course it’s true. How could I be joking about such a thing?” Chen Zhiwen said: “Tomorrow my official letter will be sent to the Shanghai government. There will be some unilateral cooperation intentions on it. We will just negotiate further in the future. .”

Just for a large commercial plaza, even if the land price in Pudong is about 0% and the labor in the mainland is also very cheap, it still requires billions of investment. Add in the surrounding buildings, it adds up to tens of billions. It is possible that the investment amount is no less than that of an ordinary highway.

Such investment intention, if it weren’t for the fact that the domestic economy has developed very well ten years after the reform, I am afraid that it would have been heard directly from heaven. However, it is just an intention now. How to invest in the future still needs to be negotiated.

“Okay, I will report this to the superiors later.” Director Lin said. In fact, after the establishment of Pudong New Area, Shanghai leaders had the idea of ​​inviting Chen Zhiwen to invest. After all, this man in the country We have already invested in many places. It stands to reason that we will not give up Shanghai, but how much will we invest? Whether they are not optimistic about Pudong, everything is unclear.

And this time Chen Zhiwen came to Shanghai in person, which was actually a statement that investment was inevitable. Therefore, the superiors sent him to contact him. However, the psychological expectation that he would have at most one hotel and two or three buildings suddenly suddenly It was elevated. Just a shopping mall comparable to Harbor City was much higher than they expected. Moreover, Chen Zhiwen never made it clear how many buildings would be built in addition to shopping malls? It was only said that there would be a hotel, which meant that the number of buildings could also be discussed. In this way, the other party must be willing to invest heavily in Pudong, otherwise they would not have said it so vaguely.

“Okay, then we will have formal discussions tomorrow.” Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. For such a large investment, there must be many details that need to be negotiated. No matter how strong his investment intention is, he will at most promote the acceleration rather than directly After all, the development of Pudong is based on ten years. In most places, there is actually no need to rush. It doesn’t matter if it is a few years later.

The only thing that needs to be settled as soon as possible is actually the land on the Huangpu River, especially opposite the bustling area of ​​Puxi. These lands are the most valuable, similar to the land in Central, Hong Kong, near Victoria Harbor. That’s why Chen Zhiwen came to buy it in person. A trip to Shanghai is needed to promote this matter. Otherwise, investments in other places in Pudong can be directed remotely.

Pudong, which has not yet been greatly developed, has nothing to see. After walking around for a while, the group returned to Puxi. Director Lin went to where he should report, while Chen Zhiwen returned to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Puxi. .

Like Yanjing, a large piece of land was acquired here a few years ago. After paying a high demolition fee for the people who originally lived on the land, a large five-star hotel was built in Shanghai with 66 floors, including underground. With 8 floors and 58 floors above ground, it is the tallest building in Shanghai today. Similarly, the other three hotels in Shanghai are only slightly worse.

“The view here is really good, with the sea on one side, half of Shanghai on the other, and half of Pudong and the Huangpu River.” Chen Zhiwen said as he walked to the large floor-to-ceiling windows.

At this moment, he is on the highest floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Puxi, where he has an independent suite for working and resting.

“There are not enough skyscrapers in Shanghai now. If one day it is like Hong Kong, it will be difficult to see such a scenery.” Dong Youwei said with a smile.

“Yes, the farmland and plains in front of us now will become a CBD business center full of skyscrapers in the future. It will have taller skyscrapers than Hong Kong. What a great opportunity it is for us. Ah, we can build another land in Shanghai, even bigger than Hong Kong Land.” Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

“Will it surpass Hong Kong?” Zhou Jiayang on the other side asked: “The area of ​​Shanghai is larger than that of Hong Kong. It can’t be all skyscrapers, right?”

“How many people are there in Shanghai? How many people are there in the entire mainland? Once the entire economy develops, it will inevitably experience everything that Western countries have experienced, such as urbanization.” Chen Zhiwen said: “Once the big economy starts With large-scale urbanization, a large number of people will flock from rural areas to cities, and more people will flock from various other cities to first-tier cities such as Yanjing and Shanghai. Think about it, how many people will there be in Shanghai and Shanghai in the future? People? In addition to commercial needs, how many buildings, hotels, and shopping malls are needed to meet the demand?”

“If this is the case, then it will be Shanghai. It will be difficult for us to capture a large market.” Dong Youwei said.

“Don’t think too much. No matter what, we can’t invest too much in one place. In the future, Yanjing, Shanghai, Shenhai, Guangdong, Jinling and a bunch of second-tier cities will be our goals. Enough is enough in each city. That’s it.” Chen Zhiwen said with a smile: “Now let’s discuss investment in the Shanghai Stock Exchange.”

“I’ve already sent someone to bring the sand table.” Dong Youwei said with a smile.

“Sand table? You won’t build a sand table that will be listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, right?” Chen Zhiwen said in surprise. This is almost impossible.

“That’s not true. I have prepared some in some core commercial areas in Shanghai, but they are not as refined as those in Hong Kong.” Dong Youwei said with a smile.

After a while, several people sent over a few small carts. On the carts, there were three-dimensional sand tables in some of the more famous commercial areas in Shanghai, including those on both sides of the Huangpu River. Some well-known buildings in Shanghai, such as the Peace Hotel, Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street, etc., but it is obvious that the proportions are wrong. Otherwise, if we really build a sandbox that is the same as a small part of Shanghai, the area will be too large and the cost will be too high. It is also very high, and in most places, there is no point in showing off.

“My hope is to acquire enough land in this area. This middle location can be used to build our new Harbor City, and next to it is the new Mandarin Oriental Hotel. In the rest, we can build office buildings, plus an additional The larger the area of ​​a high-end apartment, the better. With our funds and the use of domestic bank loans, we can easily win so many projects.” Chen Zhiwen added: “Tomorrow, on behalf of Land and Hutchison Whampoa, you will go to meet with government representatives. Negotiate and try to move in this direction. I guess it is unlikely that the government will really allow us to win these prime positions. Let’s see what they mean first.”

Not to mention that the country has been renovated for more than ten years, but it has not been renovated. Smart people will naturally know which houses are in good locations and which are not. Everyone likes such a location on the Huangpu River, and the Huangpu River is directly opposite. The most prosperous business district in Puxi is the most dazzling location. Who wouldn’t want it?

Even before the redevelopment, many people lived in these places, even where department offices were located. This is why Chen Zhiwen did not plan for this land ten years ago, because no one is stupid. Even if such a place is not commercially developed , but it is also suitable for living and working. It has been occupied for a long time, and it is no longer the turn of outsiders. That is to say, the central government has now ordered the development of Pudong. These places need to be demolished to build high-end CBD businesses. Otherwise, I will not have such an opportunity. .

The reason why a new Harbor City is proposed is that in addition to the fact that building such a project in Shanghai is definitely profitable, the project itself is also used to attract Shanghai. A super large shopping mall can be found anywhere. To drive local economy and consumption, especially if Pudong wants to build a CBD center on a large scale, you must meet the needs of high-end business people, and large shopping malls are one of them.

Besides shopping malls, it shouldn’t be a problem to build a hotel by himself. He has invested a lot in Shanghai over the years, so he still has some respect. It’s hard to say how many office buildings he can get for the rest. It is impossible and unnecessary to take advantage of the best location. Although the location is good, there are more places in the second-tier locations, and it can be made up from these places.

“Okay.” Zhou Jiayang and Dong Youwei said.

Hutchison Whampoa and Land have very clear investment directions around the world. However, there are no restrictions on real estate investment in the mainland. This is because the market is so huge. Not to mention the mainland, it is Shanghai. The two of them combined Neither of them can eat much. As long as there is no direct competition between the two, they can freely develop. In such a big market, they will not compete foolishly. Wouldn’t it be better to cooperate and use common resources to compete?

“In addition to the major development of Pudong, Shanghai is also planning to build a world-class port. Lao Zhou, do you know what the progress is now?” Chen Zhiwen asked again.

In Shanghai, in addition to Pudong New Area, another major project is the future Pudong Port.

Over the years, not only Shanghai’s economy has taken off, but the Yangtze River Delta has also begun to rise. A large number of industries have begun to rise, and the demand for exports has become higher and higher. However, the efficiency of traditional ports is too low and cannot meet the needs of the entire Yangtze River Delta. The previous Shanghai Port cannot be converted into a large new container terminal, so the central government also ordered the construction of a new terminal.

Chen Zhiwen naturally knew that this was the future Pudong Port, but he only knew the name, not the rest. However, in the original history, Li Jiacheng invested in this port, so naturally Hutchison Whampoa today would not Let this opportunity pass.

Zhou Jiayang replied: “We and Huang have also negotiated cooperation with Shanghai Municipality. In principle, a joint venture is possible. However, because Shanghai Municipality has not yet found a suitable location, all joint venture negotiations have not started. Once we have determined the location and roughly know how much funding is needed, we can then discuss the follow-up.”

“Okay, we must fight for this port.” Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. (End of chapter)