Chapter 225: The Land King on Queen's Road in Central
Chapter 225: The Land King on Queen's Road in Central
After looking at the sand table, Yang Wendong also put on a safety helmet and came to the construction site.
Zheng Zhijie introduced: "Mr. Yang, the foundation is almost complete. In a few days, some buildings will begin construction."
"For an 8-story building, it shouldn't take too long, right?" Yang Wendong asked.
Zheng Zhijie replied: "We adopt a 24-hour work system, and we can build one floor in 7 to 10 days. The lower three floors will be slower because they have higher requirements, but the upper floors will be much faster."
"Okay, safety must be guaranteed. I will find a third-party agency to inspect all the buildings." Yang Wendong reminded.
Zheng Zhijie said: "Don't worry, Mr. Yang, we dare not underestimate the quality. This time, Jinmen Construction is responsible for the construction of the entire industrial zone;
Many buildings in Central were built by them, so they are very experienced in this area. I don’t think they would use their fame to cheat.”
"Kinmen Construction?" Yang Wendong was stunned. He had heard of this company in his previous life.
Zheng Zhijie introduced: "Gammon Construction is among the top three in Hong Kong's construction industry."
"Yeah." Yang Wendong didn't care. He then looked at the several buildings that had been rebuilt in the distance and asked, "Is that the staff dormitory over there?"
Zheng Zhijie replied, "Yes, those buildings are dormitories. According to the plan, there are 40 rooms on each floor, 6 people in each room, so there are about 2000 people in one building.
But Wei Sheng also said that in reality, there shouldn’t be so many people. Many of our workers have families and don’t all live in dormitories.”
"It doesn't matter. It's everyone's freedom." Yang Wendong asked again: "What are the conditions in the dormitory?"
Wei Zetao next to him said: "Each person has a 1-meter-wide bed, a cabinet, two people share a table, and there are fans and electric lights in the room;
Each house also has a balcony where you can dry clothes. Toilets and bathrooms are shared. In addition, high-power electrical appliances are strictly restricted, and fires are not allowed. Everyone has to buy boiled water from the same place.”
"Sounds okay." Yang Wendong thought about it and felt that it was a bit like the university dormitory in his previous life in the early 20th century.
Although in the past people thought that not having air conditioning, entertainment, and a separate bathroom was equivalent to being in prison, in this era, it is good enough to have a place to shelter from the wind and rain.
Wei Zetao added: "Compared to the living environment of many people in Hong Kong, it is actually much better."
"Okay, let's do this for now." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "We'll see after it's built."
These introductions were all based on Xu Kong's understanding. Without seeing it with his own eyes, Yang Wendong couldn't give any opinions of his own.
Now you just need to know that the general situation meets his requirements. When the dormitories or factories are built in the future, you will see them and have your own ideas.
The last stop was a large warehouse with only one floor. After everyone walked in, they saw that there were already a lot of densely packed wooden boxes stacked up in three layers.
Wei Zetao said, "Mr. Yang, these are all plastic particles imported from Taiwan, which are produced by Formosa Plastics."
"Wang Yongqing's factory started up quite quickly." Yang Wendong nodded.
The future "Formosa Plastics" invested in last year has borne fruit this year. Last month, Formosa Plastics' new factory was completed and started mass production of plastic particle raw materials.
Wei Zetao said: "Yes, because there is enough funds and there is no bank trouble, Wang Sheng's efficiency is very high, and it is two months earlier than the previously customized plan."
"What's the price?" Yang Wendong asked.
Wei Zetao replied: "It is about 20% cheaper than shipping from the United States, and a little cheaper than the previous British traders. Once Wang Sheng's production capacity is increased, we will have enough to survive, and we can compete with the existing trading companies for the market."
"Okay." Yang Wendong said again: "Our industrial park is very large, and we will definitely attract investment in the future. So we don't want to accept textiles, garments, mechanical processing and the like;
We will first rent it only to factories related to plastics, so that everyone can come together, our prices are low, and everyone will benefit.”
"I understand." Wei Zetao agreed. He also understood the boss's purpose, which was to monopolize the supply of plastic raw materials in Hong Kong.
At noon, Yang Wendong took all the company executives to have lunch at a nearby food stall, and then everyone went home. Yang Wendong followed Zheng Zhijie to Cheung Hing Building on Des Voeux Road in Central.
"19th floor? The speed is quite fast." Yang Wendong counted carefully. There are 25 floors in the building, and 19 floors have been built.
Zheng Zhijie said: "After we acquired the building, we injected more funds, and the original contracting company worked even harder. It is estimated that it will be completed in October; however, the interior decoration will take some time. Now we have added staff to decorate the floors below the 15th floor, and it is estimated that it will be completed by the end of the year, which is faster than expected."
"There's no need to push for speed. We still have two months to spare," said Yang Wendong.
Zheng Zhijie said: "Okay."
Yang Wendong asked again: "How is the business promotion going in the shopping mall downstairs?"
Zheng Zhijie said: "If you count the future Carrefour supermarket, it's basically completed. In addition, a cinema has been built inside the square according to your requirements."
"Well, cinemas and supermarkets, we don't actually expect them to make a lot of money, but they can attract a large number of people." Yang Wendong nodded.
In previous lives, many cinemas were located in shopping malls or even office buildings. Yang Wendong had thought about this in his early years, but it was not easy to implement.
Because movie theaters of this era were all single rooms with very large areas, this was because there were few films and the cost of showing them was high.
However, the area of a single floor in an ordinary office building is not very large, so it is impossible to put a cinema in it.
This is only possible if there is a large shopping mall. However, in this era, there are very few such large shopping malls. The few that exist are controlled by big conglomerates and are already doing well. It is almost impossible to convince them to make a big fuss and convert them into cinemas.
After the acquisition of the Liu Chong Hing Building, the shopping mall below meets this requirement, which can be regarded as a test by Yang Wendong on the "placing cinemas in shopping malls" in this era.
Zheng Zhijie went on to say: “But the cinema inside Changxing Shopping Mall will open a little later than the mall, because the mall was almost completed before we acquired it.
Now if we need to make a major change to an area, it will take some time.”
"Okay, I understand." Yang Wendong nodded. The seats in the cinema are slanted, which requires that any property needs to be modified or rebuilt in order to accommodate movies.
Zheng Zhijie added: 'Mr. Yang, let me introduce to you the locations of some well-known brands in our mall in the future.
This is the first layer.'
Yang Wendong was also listening casually. He knew some internationally renowned brands, but most of them were from the UK. The Commonwealth was exclusive to foreign countries, so it was a bit difficult for many foreign investors to come in.
After listening, Yang Wendong asked, "It hasn't been fully rented out yet, right?" Zheng Zhijie said, "Not yet. In the early days, it was mainly signed with some well-known brands when Liu Chongxing Bank was in charge. Later, after we took over, I also signed some, but there are still some positions that have not been decided.
But I don’t plan to look for big brands for these locations. I will finalize them all in the next two months.”
"Well, OK." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Leave me a larger room. I plan to open a clothing store for Yiyi in it."
Although they sell mid- to low-end clothing, they are very suitable for high-end shopping malls because most of the people who come here to shop are just ordinary people.
Inside high-end shopping malls, there are only a few truly high-end brands.
"Okay." Zheng Zhijie agreed.
After visiting Changxing Plaza, everyone returned to the new headquarters of Changxing Real Estate, Geely Building:
Zheng Zhijie also brought some financial information and said, "Mr. Yang, this is the financial information of Changxing Real Estate in the past six months. In the past six months, we have been developing a total of four residential projects.
In fact, one project has already sold off-plan units. Judging from this project alone, the net profit will be around HK$110 million. The other three projects are not yet ready for sale, but even based on the current housing prices, the three projects can make at least HK$250 million.”
"It's not allowed to sell pre-sale properties at will now, right?" Yang Wendong suddenly asked after looking at the information.
Zheng Zhijie replied: "Yes, last year, some places had unfinished buildings, and many citizens who bought pre-sale properties suffered heavy losses. They made trouble and forced the Hong Kong government to step in to solve the problem;
At the beginning of this year, the Hong Kong government also set restrictions on pre-sale properties, requiring them to be sold after a certain period of time.
"That's good. There have to be restrictions on the market." Yang Wendong didn't really care.
Although there are no restrictions on pre-sale properties, which is beneficial to his real estate company, he hopes that the market will only have problems during the major crises that he remembers, so that he can maximize his profits.
Zheng Zhijie added: "In fact, the sluggish real estate market in the first half of this year was also somewhat related to this policy. Even the subsequent bank run of Liu Chongxing may have been caused by this incident."
"One move affects the entire body, and this is how the financial and real estate markets are..." Yang Wendong nodded and said.
With a model like that of Liao Chong Hing Bank, problems were bound to arise sooner or later, but knowing the timing and making early arrangements could have maximized his own interests.
Of course, this was not considered as adding insult to injury. It was the best option for the Liao family to sell the property to him, otherwise the family would suffer greater losses.
Zheng Zhijie took out another document and said, "Mr. Yang, next, I plan to continue to participate in the Hong Kong government's residential auctions on Hong Kong Island. These are the target locations."
"Okay." Yang Wendong agreed after reading it for a while: "Just give me the specific information before the auction."
The Hong Kong real estate market was somewhat sluggish in the first half of the year, but began to gradually return to normal in the second half of the year. The only difference is that the recovery speed may be a bit slow. This is also because after the collapse of Liu Chong Hing Bank, many banks began to become more cautious.
"Okay." Zheng Zhijie paused and said, "Mr. Yang, there is another special piece of land. The Hong Kong government requires that this piece of land must be turned into a large hotel. Originally, we didn't have this business, but the location of this piece of land is too good."
"Where is the location?" Yang Wendong asked.
Zheng Zhijie replied: "No. 2 Queen's Road."
"Queen's Road? No. 2?" Yang Wendong was stunned. Isn't this the location of Li Jia's Yangtze River Industrial Center Building in history?
According to legend, this piece of land was the location of the Hilton Hotel in Hong Kong in the early years. Later in the 80s, the hotel property was acquired by Lao Li. However, because Hilton signed a 50-year cooperation contract with the original owner, Lao Li was unable to develop the land.
Later, after Li acquired HK Electric, he used the advantages of HK Electric and the power of local local tyrants to force Hilton Hotel to leave Hong Kong after receiving a sum of money. After that, Li demolished the hotel and built the future Cheung Kong CITIC Tower.
From this perspective, this piece of land has now been put up for auction by the Hong Kong government.
Zheng Zhijie said: "Yes, the location of this land is very good, and the area is large enough, 3.8 square feet. The Hong Kong government requires that any bidder must build a five-star building with more than 600 guest rooms."
"3.8 square feet?" Yang Wendong calculated in his mind and asked, "Then the value of this piece of land, isn't it worth 3000 million Hong Kong dollars?"
This year, the auction prices or private transactions for commercial land in Central, Hong Kong were basically above HK$800 per square foot.
The location of Queen's Road is even better, so the price is bound to be higher.
Zheng Zhijie nodded and said, "3000 million Hong Kong dollars may still be conservative. Judging from the location, this piece of land is at the king-level.
If an office building can be built, I think the final price may be higher.”
"Which companies are more interested in this land?" Yang Wendong asked again.
Zheng Zhijie said: "Jardine Matheson Land, Swire Group and Whampoa Group have all expressed their intention to participate in the auction. In addition, some consortiums from Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom also seem to be interested."
"It's normal that such a good location can attract so many big financial groups." Yang Wendong was not surprised.
Hong Kong has now become a rising star in the Asian economy, and Central is the core of Hong Kong's economy. High-quality land in Central will inevitably attract bidding from multiple consortiums.
Zheng Zhijie asked: "Mr. Yang, are you interested in this piece of land?"
"Of course." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "The land on Queen's Road is 3.8 square feet. It is estimated that it will be difficult to have such an opportunity in the next ten years."
Although he could have acquired the already built Hilton Hotel property in the late 70s, just like Lao Li in history, he would still have encountered Hilton's contract problems, and it would probably take until the late 80s or early 90s before he could truly control the property in this location.
It is impossible for him not to ask about it now and wait until 30 years later.
A hotel in such a prime location is also a good investment and it is estimated that it would only suffer losses during the economic crisis in 66.
Moreover, his status in Hong Kong is getting higher and higher. Many times when he meets people to discuss things, he has to go to the foreigners' hotels, which makes him feel a little uneasy.
If you open a hotel now and wait until the 80s to see the demand, it will be very cost-effective to continue operating it or to demolish it and build a super skyscraper.
Zheng Zhijie said: "Do I need to sign up for you?"
"Wait a minute, for such a large project, I need to discuss it with the bank first." Yang Wendong added, "Please make an appointment with Ho Sin Hang of Hang Seng Bank for me. I will talk to him about the financing."
"Okay." Zheng Zhijie agreed.
PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(In real history, the total investment in Hilton Hotels in the 60s was $1400 million.)
(End of this chapter)