To end a months-long controversy, the Taipei City Government, Taipei New Horizon Co and Eslite Corp have agreed to an amended build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract covering royalties to be paid by Eslite for its operations at the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park site owned by the city.
Under the revised contract the city signed last week with Taipei New Horizon, the royalties to be paid by Eslite Corp are set at 0.5 percent of revenues generated from all facilities run by Eslite on the floors it leases from Taipei New Horizon, which include a store, a hotel and a venue for cultural and creative exhibitions and performances.
Taipei New Horizon is a subsidiary of the Fubon Group that was created to oversee operations at the 14-story Taipei New Horizon complex.
Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs Chief Secretary Liu Te-chien (劉得堅) said the revised contract would help the city boost its annual revenue from the deal from NT$560,000 (NT$17,144) to an estimated NT$9 million.
That means that the total increase in revenue over the life of the contract will be about NT$387 million.
A controversy over the contract erupted in May when questions were raised about Eslite renting some of the space it leased from Taipei New Horizon at rents much higher — reportedly more than NT$10,000 per 3.3m2 — than what it was paying the Fubon subsidiary.
Under the original BOT contract signed by former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) administration, Eslite only had to pay 0.5 percent of its rent as a royalty to the city government.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) pushed for the contract to be renegotiated.
The revised contract states that that royalty payments for the Eslite Hotel would be set at 0.5 percent of proceeds the hotel is expected to generate from an occupancy rate of 60 percent, regardless of the hotel’s actual turnover.
Liu said that the store and the exhibition center are expected to generate an estimated NT$6 million for the city government per year, while the hotel is expected to add about NT$3 million annually.
Another major agreement was that Taiwan Telecom, whose headquarters occupy two stories and a wing in the building, has agreed to vacate one floor and the wing.
Taiwan Telecom’s presence in the building sparked controversy because the contract states that the building would be used to promote the cultural and creative industry, Liu said.
He said Taiwan New Horizon would have to secure new tenants whose businesses are closer in line with the building’s intended use.
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