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Shopping Centers Today -> May 2003
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TAIPEI PERSONALITY
101-story Taiwan building with mall at base will be world’s tallest building
By SUSAN THORNE
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| Taipei 101 Mall, targeting upscale female shoppers from the building’s offices and surrounding area, will occupy the first six stories of the building. | |
In what may appear to some as a game of regional one-upmanship, Taiwanese developers are building what will be the world’s highest building, with a six-story upscale shopping center at its base.
Taipei 101 will, as its name suggests, rise 101 stories and stand 1,676 feet tall in the island state’s capital, Taipei. Meanwhile, China’s World Financial Center, under construction in Shanghai, will stand at 1,524 feet. Both newcomers will reach higher than the current record holder, the 1,491-foot Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Contractors are erecting Taipei 101 at the rate of one new story every six days. The NT$58 billion ($1.67 billion) structure will house the Taipei Financial Center, a business-oriented office complex envisioned as a regional finance hub. But the occupant of the first six stories will be Taipei 101 Mall, a 200-store, 829,029-square-foot shopping center with a stellar international tenant lineup.
The mall is due to open late this year, roughly 12 months before the building’s completion.
“It’s going to be an absolutely cutting-edge center, not just for Taiwan but for anywhere,” said Simon Van de Velde, senior development, leasing and marketing manager at Lend Lease Asia, Taipei. Sydney, Australia-based Lend Lease Corp. is handling retail planning, leasing and marketing for the shopping center. “We’ve been watching the fast-changing retail industry in Taiwan, and now we will be giving the country its first truly international mall.”
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The merchandise mix is tailored for the affluent professional demographic group, predominantly female, that spends about NT $40,000 per month on fashion and food, roughly twice the national average.
For these upmarket core customers, many of whom live in the trendy Hsin Yi district where the mall will be located, Taipei 101’s designers are creating an elegant shopping environment fitted out in marble, French limestone and terrazzo, as well as more-modern materials such as polysteel and glass. A subtle, neutral color palette for the walls and other surfaces will accentuate the facades of shops.
Three floors will be devoted to an impressive selection of fashion brands, nearly 90 percent of them representing international or regional Asian retailers. They include Benetton, Christian Dior, Kenneth Cole and Louis Vuitton. A smaller-format (52,000 square feet) Sogo department store offering cosmetics, accessories and other merchandise will be one of the anchors — marking the first time the Japanese retail giant has gone into a mall, Van de Velde said. Page One, a Singapore-based, English-language design and architecture book retailer, will also locate its first Taipei store at Taipei 101.
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Many stores will be larger than typical retail premises in Taiwan, enabling the tenants to carry a broader merchandise selection. That’s something customers are looking for, according to Lend Lease market surveys. Certain luxury retailers, such as Louis Vuitton, will be renting premises of 3,000 to 6,000 square feet; the smaller shops will be about 400 square feet, considerably roomier than the 200-square-foot department store concession spaces that are standard for many retail operations in Taiwan.
Dining will be the other focus, with venues ranging from in-line restaurants to a 1,100-seat food court. Many of the eateries will be located around the perimeter of City Square, a spacious enclosed piazza with trees and seating. The tenant mix will be international, including Azabu Sabo (a Japanese dessert café), Lavazza Espresso and Ruby Tuesday. There will also be an open-kitchen format restaurant developed by Taipei’s Grand Formosa Regent Hotel. On the first floor the Grand Market food emporium will offer a wide selection of fresh and prepared foods.
The estimated 10,000 employees in the Taipei 101 tower will help drive many of the food sales, with international and local tourists providing an additional market group for the mall, according to Lend Lease. Visitors to the panoramic viewing platforms on the upper levels will exit through the shopping center, said Van de Velde.
Occupying an entire city block, the Taipei 101 building has been designed by Taiwanese architect C.Y. Lee to incorporate propitious symbols of Chinese culture. The lucky number eight is represented in the eight-story vertical groupings into which the tower is divided. Lee has also incorporated the motifs of bamboo (representing strength) and the Chinese lantern in the exterior design.
Asked whether he has any qualms about occupying such a conspicuously tall structure almost two years after the September 2001 terrorist attack that destroyed New York City’s World Trade Center, Van de Velde admits he hears that question often.
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| Many of Taipei 101 Mall’s eateries will surround City Square, a spacious tree-lined piazza. |
“It’s certainly a consideration,” he said. “Has it slowed down progress? No.”
The outlook is favorable for Taipei 101, according to Victor Liu, an adviser covering the Great China region for Taiwan’s Shopping Center Development Council, Taipei. (“Great China” refers to the region made up of Chinese speakers in Hong Kong, The People’s Republic of China, Singapore and Taiwan.)
Although Taiwan’s economy dipped in 2001 because of the high-tech and computer industry’s worldwide decline, it has since revived. Gross domestic product growth of 3 percent is anticipated for this year, said Liu. The demand for new retail offerings is strong, because much of Taiwan’s retail stock is still what he calls “transitional” in character, he added.
“New formats increase people’s shopping,” Liu noted. He predicts a strong performance for Taipei 101 based on its unique combination of high fashion and food plus the concentrated presence of many well-known fashion brands.
Two sizable shopping centers have opened near the Taipei 101 site over the past 18 months: Breeze (1.6 million square feet) and Core Pacific Center (1.5 million square feet). Liu said he believes that Breeze, which has a middle-to-upper-middle price point, will feel the effects of competition after Taipei 101 opens.
“They will need to change,” Liu said, but he added that Core Pacific will be less affected because it has a lower price point than Taipei 101.
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