The Mitsui Outlet Park at Taichung Port is scheduled to begin trial operations at the end of this month before it is officially opened next month, Taiwan International Ports Corp (TIPC) said on Tuesday.
The Tokyo-based development group’s first outlet park in Taiwan was built in Taoyuan’s Linkou District (林口). It has built outlet parks in Japanese port cities, including Yokohama and Kisarazu.
Its Mitsui Outlet Park, on an 18-hectare property of the port, is a multifunctional facility designed to serve shoppers, restaurant-goers and entertainment seekers, TIPC said.
Mitsui Group in 2015 submitted a business plan to build the park at the port, because it saw the business opportunities created by an increase in international tourists arriving on cruise ships and cross-strait ferries at the port, TIPC Taichung business development supervisor Lin Mei-hsiu (林美秀) said.
The group requested land about 25km from the Shinkong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung and three times larger than its Linkou property, Lin said, adding that TIPC then found a property that matched Mitsui Group’s requirements.
TIPC also helped facilitate the construction of basic infrastructure around the property, Lin said.
Trial operations are to begin on Nov. 29 before it officially opens on Dec. 12, Lin said, adding that once the park begins operations, TIPC would collect rent and management fees.
The outlet park is to house 170 stores, restaurants and entertainment facilities, TIPC said, adding that a Ferris wheel would also be installed.
It is to be the only outlet in the nation where visitors can shop and enjoy a view of the sea at the same time, it said.
International brands such as The North Face, Timberland and TUMI are to have stores in the park, Mitsui Group said in a statement, adding that it would also feature Japanese restaurant chains, some of which are opening restaurants in Taiwan for the first time.
The park is also to have entertainment facilities, including Snow Town and Asobi Square, it said.
The facility is to be part of Taichung’s tourism corridor, which also includes Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), the Gaomei Wetlands (高美溼地), a soon-to-be-built aquarium and Dajia Jenn Lann Temple (大甲鎮瀾宮), TIPC said.
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