Taozhu Garden (陶朱隱園), a sustainable residential tower in Taipei’s prime Xinyi District (信義), is poised for its topping-off ceremony next month and space is to go on sale next year, amid a stagnant luxury housing market in Taiwan.
Core Pacific Group (威京集團), whose business interests encompass petrochemical production, engineering, a department store and financial services, is developing the tower from the lossmaking hotel Agora Garden Taipei (亞太會館).
COSTLY SPACE
The project is to offer 40 of what could be the most expensive housing units in the nation, with 21 floors above-ground and four basement floors, said the group, which has refused to reveal its pricing strategy.
The central bank has kept mortgage restrictions on luxury houses, citing concerns over price volatility.
Luxury homes have borne the brunt of a spate of unfavorable policies in recent years that inflate their holding costs multiple times, making them beyond the reach of speculators.
SAFETY FEATURES
Taozhu Garden is built with safety designs similar to those for nuclear power plants, so it should emerge unscathed after an earthquake up to magnitude 7, structural engineers said.
The construction team is to cover the building with 23,000 plants that are forecast to absorb 130 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, the engineers added.
FAILED SALE
Local media outlets said the developer, who sought unsuccessfully to sell the plot of land in 2008 and 2009, might ask for NT$8 million (US$253,501) per ping (3.3m2) in light of the building’s unique design and the scarcity of supply in the area.
The building is to have elevators large enough for cars to reach apartments, another engineer said.
ANTICIPATION
US news network CNN last year rated the building as one of the 10 most anticipated landmarks in a list of global projects.
Taozhu Garden might receive support from a Taipei City Government’s plan to lower house taxes for luxury homes by half in 2018, if things proceed smoothly, analysts said.
LOAN NUMBERS
Real demand bolstered home loans by NT$32.16 billion to NT$6.28 trillion last month from a month earlier, while construction lending slowed by NT$706 million to NT$1.63 trillion, according to statistics released by the central bank yesterday.
Builders have stayed on the sidelines as expectations of price declines are chilling transactions, which are likely to reach a record low this year, government data showed.
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