TAIPAN John Gokongwei Jr. is embarking on his biggest real estate venture yet, a shopping mall ringed by up to 40 residential condos within a 12-hectare complex.
The mega-project is located in Chengdu, the capital city of the southwest Chinese province of Sichuan.
Robinsons Land president Frederick Go, a Gokongwei nephew who oversees the project, clarified that the Sichuan venture is a private investment of his uncle, whose development costs alone could easily reach $1 billion.
According to Go, the Chinese government, along with other overseas Chinese, invited the Gokongweis to join the bidding of the property over a year ago. (Incidentally, a group of traditional doctors and cultural performers from Sichuan, led by deputy director Zeng Ting Zhong of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, is currently touring the Robinsons malls as part of the growing Sichuan-Philippine ties.)
“We plan to continue with the mid-range pricing tier for the residential condos in Chengdu, which is fast approaching the per capita income level now of Metro Manila’s,” said Go, adding that the Chinese government also allows pre-selling of condominiums just like in Manila.
As well, the buildings would be in the 30-story range, with the units similarly sized up as any mid-range condo in Manila, but specced for the four seasons.
With the growing mainland portfolio, the Gokongweis have already established a China office supervised by Malaysian, Singaporean and Chinese-Filipinos, who also now oversee another shopping mall project in Xiamen—where taipan Henry Sy Sr. also has built an SM mall—and an office condo development in Shanghai.
Closer to home, the Gokongweis are in the midst of repositioning their Pioneer mall into a one-stop computer shopping destination, much like the Sham Shui Po district in Hong Kong or the Akihabara in Tokyo.
Sandwiched by the main shopping districts of Makati and Ortigas, the Pioneer mall hopes to capitalize instead on the growing number of call centers and IT-buildings, also being built by the Gokongweis in the same complex.
