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LONDON — Hongkong Land, the developer behind Landmark, one of Hong Kong’s most prominent luxury malls, has unveiled its development pipeline for mainland China.
The most high-profile project would be the $8 billion Shanghai West Bund Financial Hub.
It consists of a public art center designed by Thomas Heatherwick, named the West Bund Orbit, LEED- and WELL-certified office buildings, luxury residential apartments, hotels, and Central, its flagship premium lifestyle retail series.
The development will be delivered in three phases with offices, the majority of luxury retail and a luxury hotel being completed by 2027.
Billed as the largest single project investment ever made by Hongkong Land, the West Bund development is twice as big as the group’s Hong Kong Central portfolio in Hong Kong.
West Bund is an affluent, up-and-coming strip of land by the Huangpu River, south of downtown Shanghai. It is filled with art museums, water-facing luxury apartments and shiny office buildings.
Alvin Kong, executive director of commercial property at Hongkong Land, said through the Shanghai West Bund Financial Hub project, the company is interpreting “a new urban evolution model that upholds the design and planning principle of putting people first, serving contemporary lifestyles and inspiring creativity, underpinned by infusing nature throughout the built environment.”
“We are already applying this model to other cities through our Central and The Ring series [a less luxury-oriented retail series and] in doing so, are catalyzing the uniquely innovative and creative elements of individual cities to create a new category of commercial property,” Kong added.
In the next five years, Hongkong Land plans to roll out 10 new developments under the Central and The Ring series in Chongqing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Shanghai, adding another 3 million square feet of retail floor space to the retail portfolio in the Chinese mainland.
An illustration of the Shanghai West Bund Financial Hub, to be completed in 2027.
Courtesy of Hongkong Land
Shanghai has been a popular spot for expansion among Hong Kong property developers since the early ’90s, and luxury brands almost exclusively work with them on retail expansion in the city. Hongkong Land is a relatively latecomer to the scene.
Swire Properties operates Taikoo Li Qiantan, and HKRI Taikoo Hui, and is working on the redevelopment of Zhangyuan in partnership with Shanghai Jing’an Real Estate Group. The 645,800-square-foot Zhangyuan is Shanghai’s largest Shikumen compound, with around 170 historic buildings in the Shanghainese and Western architectural styles. It now hosts a Dior pop-up and an appointment-only Louis Vuitton Objets Nomades space.
Sun Hung Kai Properties owns Shanghai IFC in Pudong and Shanghai ICC on Huaihai Road and has been working on ITC in the area of Xujiahui, which is set to become one of the city’s biggest multipurpose complexes when it’s completed next year.
In the meantime, New World Development is looking to expand its K11 shopping concept in downtown Shanghai with the acquisition of a parcel of land right behind the Hermès Shanghai Maison on Huaihai Road, which is just one block down the road from its current K11 location.
Hang Lung Properties, Kerry Properties, Sui On Land and Lai Sun Development are key players in Shanghai’s luxury retail landscape as well.
Most notably, Hang Lung Properties’s Plaza 66 is often considered the center of luxury in Shanghai, as it hosts the biggest Louis Vuitton and Chanel stores in China, even though Shanghai IFC logs higher annual sales.
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