The groundbreaking ceremony for a major commercial development that will feature luxury hotel brand Waldorf Astoria and retailer SKP took place in Guangzhou’s Tianhe district on Wednesday.
According to media reports, the project will be constructed on a 194,500 square metre plot, which originally housed the former Guangzhou Racecourse in Zhujiang New Town. The land was bought up by the Guangzhou-based Yuexiu Group on 25 February for a total sum of 23.6 billion yuan (US$3.4 billion) or a record-breaking 85,500 yuan (US$12,514) per square metre. The development has a cumulative floor space of 567,000 square metres.
Yuexiu Group and Hilton – the parent company of Waldorf Astoria – signed an agreement on Wednesday to formalise their partnership. The new hotel is set to occupy a plot of land on the northeastern corner of the racetrack, which has a gross construction area of 89,000 square metres.
Chen Qiang, the chair of Yuexiu Group told China Daily that the deal would “inject strong impetus into enhancing the internationalisation of Guangzhou’s high-end service industry and its top-tier business reception capacity.”
Hilton’s president for China and Mongolia, Qian Jin, described the establishment of a Waldorf Astoria in Guangzhou as an important step in deploying his firm’s suite of luxury brands in China and said it would also help the provincial capital to establish itself as a consumer centre and world-class tourism destination.
[See more: Yuexiu, SKP ink deal on luxury mixed-use development in Guangzhou]
Chinese luxury department store brand SKP is also partnering up with Yuexiu Group, having signed an agreement on 2 March with the developer to manage a 125,000 square metre high-end shopping centre.
SKP is planning to introduce over 1,000 international brands to the shopping complex and is aiming to generate sales that will hit the tens of billions of yuan after the venue opens.
Beijing Hualian SKP’s president, Zhang Kun, noted that the project would merge international fashion with local Guangzhou sensibilities, adding that the centre would “bring an unprecedented high-quality consumption experience to consumers in Guangzhou and the Greater Bay Area (GBA).”
For phase one of the development, Chen noted that Yuexiu Group would be investing a total of 38.6 billion yuan (US$5.65 billion), with the aim of turning the area into an integrated “living room” for high-quality living, high-end service, and ecological leisure.
In order to finance the project, Yuexiu Group has reached strategic cooperation agreements with 14 banks, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and China Construction Bank, which are providing the development with financial credit support.
The Guangzhou Racecourse was originally built in 1992. After races in Guangzhou came to an end in 1999, the site was taken over by restaurants, as well as furniture and car retailers.
Last December, Guangzhou authorities passed a plan to redevelop the area into a luxury consumption area, as well as a park.
