China Economic Review
Charting China’s changing economic terrain · Since 1990
Billionaire revives struggling Shanghai project
January 12, 2010
More than a year after a twin tower hotel project designed as the gateway to Xintiandi got snagged on a web of problems, construction is finally about to restart.
The 30-floor project was intended to be the gateway to central Shanghai that boasts some of China’s priciest real estate. But since construction mysteriously stopped in mid 2008 just as the global financial crisis started to unfold, the building seemed to question Shanghai’s ability to keep up the pace of development.
Vincent Lo, the Hong Kong billionaire who originally owned 15% of the towers, and has now agreed to take full control of the project through his private business group. Mr. Lo is buying out the 85% owned by Leo KoGuan, an Indonesian-American software mogul who conceived the idea.
There is a mystery here as everyone insists that finance was not the problem. Neither Mr. Lo or Mr. Leo, two wealthy and colorful characters has spoken about it.
Vincent Lo’s Shui On Group plans to restart construction immediately on the honeycombed Xintiandi project and plans to complete it before the World Expo opens in Shanghai in May.
It is stated quite firmly that money was never Leo KoGuan’s problem. But no one is able to accurately and precisely name the snag.
Online Wall Street Journal reports that all along, two hotel management companies have remained publicly committed to operating five-star properties on the site, including one to be managed by Dubai’s Jumeirah LLC. A company website shows it will feature a wedding-cake-shaped glass enclosure for parties. Another hotel, under the Hilton Hotels brand Conrad, promises a design that pays homage to China’s Han Dynasty.