Ma Shimin asked curiously, "What project?"

In a city like Heung Kong, there are few large-scale projects that can surpass a giant wharf, and even the construction of skyscrapers in Central cannot compare to it, except for the subway.

"We have converted the industrial land on the shore of Hung Hom into a commercial and residential area, with an area of 2 million square feet (200,000 square meters), if it is developed, will it also require a lot of capital?" Xu Zhi said with a smile.

"Is it time to develop a large-scale high-end residential complex?" Ma Shimin nodded and muttered: "This does require a lot of funds, but I am afraid that it is not the right time, once we have completed the housing and the Sino-British negotiations have not yet ended, then our funds will be trapped." ”

"There's no need to worry about that, because of this land, I don't plan to develop a residential property. Xu Zhi shook his head and said.

Ma Shimin was stunned for a moment and asked, "Then what are we building on this?"

"I plan to build a complex of shopping malls, office buildings, hotels and high-end apartments, called Whampoa Plaza, all of which are owned by Hutchison himself, with a total floor area of 20 million square feet (2 million square meters). Xu Zhi said with a smile.

"Hold it all yourself?" Ma Shimin exclaimed: "Chairman, in this case, the capital is ......?"

"The specific amount of funds needed depends on the follow-up planning and design, but according to the current average construction cost of Xiangjiang, the total investment of this project is estimated to exceed 15 billion Hong Kong dollars. Xu Zhi said: "We advance 30% of our own funds, and the other use of loans also requires an investment of almost 5 billion Hong Kong dollars, which is no worse than a wharf!"

"However, it is not too risky to hold it all by yourself. Ma Shimin worried: "Although Hung Hom is close to the sea, it has never been the commercial center of Xiangjiang. It's close to Kowloon City, and the Harbour Tunnel also leads directly to Central, so if the land is used for residential use, we will never be less profitable, and we can also build a shopping mall in terms of property holding, so the risk is much less. ”

"What if it's not a commercial center?" Xu Zhi said with a smile: "As long as I invest in the place, he will be a commercial center in the future." Some time ago, He Guoyuan and Lin Wenzhou have been questioning, why did I build the headquarters of Midea and Changxing in Hung Hom instead of Central? Now you understand, right?"

Ma Shimin said: "The chairman wants to take advantage of the huge number of employees of Midea and Changxing and the surrounding cooperation to build Hung Hom into a new commercial center in Xiangjiang?"

"Yes, Midea's staff income is already good, and Midea itself has a series of suppliers and partners, as long as we move to Hung Hom, these people are very likely to follow, such a large group, enough to form a strong business scale.

As long as this project is successful, then in the future, the buildings on this piece of land in Hung Hom will be the greatest wealth of Hutchison. Xu Zhi said with a smile: "As for the future of Xiangjiang, you don't have to worry, I am completely sure." ”

In the 8090s, Li Jiacheng once developed the famous Four Wai Village Project in Xiangjiang, with a total profit of 20 billion Hong Kong dollars, and these funds were the fundamental reason why the Li consortium was able to internationalize.

Among the four walled village projects, the first and most famous is the Whampoa Garden project.

Whampoa Gardens was once the Hutchison Group's dockyard, but in the 70s, Hutchison worked with Swire to merge the dockyard and move it to Tsing Yi Island, leaving a vacant land of up to 2 million feet (200,000 square meters).

At that time, Hutchison's Taipan Qi Dezun intended to develop this land and build a top-level community similar to Taikoo Shing, but he encountered a fatal problem, the land of the dock wharf was of an industrial nature, and if he wanted to build a shopping mall residence, then he had to pay a huge "land compensation fee".

After the land compensation fee is paid, there is basically no profit from redevelopment, which is the strategy of the Hong Kong government, otherwise, all enterprises buy industrial land for land reconstruction, so which real estate company is willing to participate in the land auction?

The land compensation fee trapped Qi Dezun and the follow-up Wei Li, and when Li Jiacheng took over Hutchison in later generations, the land price at that time was almost at its peak, and the land compensation fee required 2.8 billion Hong Kong dollars, and Li Jiacheng naturally refused to accept it.

In 1984, although the Sino-British negotiations improved, the real estate market has been sluggish, in order to stimulate the real estate industry in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong government agreed to Li Ka-shing's conditions, with a land compensation fee of 390 million Hong Kong dollars to modify the land use nature of the land, only 90 million Hong Kong dollars more than the 300 million Hong Kong dollars that Xu Zhi is currently negotiating.

At the beginning of 85, when the Sino-British negotiations were over, the future of Xiangjiang was decided, and housing prices began to rise steadily, Li Jiacheng immediately arranged the construction of the Huangpu Garden walled village project.

Whampoa Gardens includes a total of 7.6 million square feet (760,000 square meters) of residential buildings and 1.9 million square feet (190,000 square meters) of shopping malls, the whole project began in 1985 and ended in 1989.

The land of Whampoa Garden was held for itself, and only paid 390 million Hong Kong dollars for land modification, while the construction cost of the entire project was 4 billion Hong Kong dollars, and in the next four years, the total income was as high as 9 billion Hong Kong dollars.

This profit was the most profitable business case in Xiangjiang at that time, but Xu Zhi didn't look down on it.

Although the house price at the end of the 80s is not low, but compared with the 90s against the sky, the gap is still very large, you know, the house price in Xiangjiang, from 91-97 years, has risen 4 times, the rent is also a sharp rise, any property purchased in the 80s at the market price at that time, after 90~97 years, only by the rise in rent is enough to recover the cost.

Historically, Li Jiacheng made a residential project because he wanted to liquidate his assets, and this residential project is extremely suitable.

However, at present, Hutchison does not need to rush to cash out its land, on the contrary, when there is too much money to spend, investment property is the last word. In the current Xiangjiang market, it is difficult to invest tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars to buy property, so large-scale construction has become the best choice on your own land.

As a result, there are plans to build a large commercial complex, which is currently Hutchison's final plan, involving a large shopping mall, dozens of office buildings for rent, several high-end apartment buildings, and a hotel.

In later generations, Li Jiacheng's Whampoa Garden had a total construction area of only 9.5 million square feet, because the laws of Xiangjiang had more restrictions on residential buildings, and the plot ratio could not rise indefinitely.

However, the requirements for commercial office buildings are much lower, so the ratio of building residential buildings to building office buildings on the same size of land is much worse.

Therefore, Xu Zhi intends to build the entire land into a large office complex with a plot ratio of 10.

As for whether anyone will come to rent here in the future, Xu Zhi is not worried at all, first, the move of Midea and Changxing headquarters company will inevitably bring a large number of people with stable incomes, and second, after the Sino-British negotiations, the real estate prices in Xiangjiang have skyrocketed, and the rent will also force a large number of enterprises to leave Central and other places, and now, Hutchison will prepare enough commercial facilities in Hung Hom to attract this part of the group.

"Since the chairman said so, I will do a market research first, and when the results come out, we will discuss the details. Ma Shimin also secretly analyzed in his heart that although this project will cost a lot of money, it will not require a one-time investment, but will be built in stages, so that Hutchison can also carry out so many large-scale projects at the same time.

"Okay, then you go and arrange the land leveling in the early stage, and then let the designers design the style of the real estate according to my data. Xu Zhi also knows that this kind of project is not a large-scale residential community, after all, to hold it for a long time by his own company, it cannot be achieved overnight, and it may take several months for the early bidding alone.