The Taipei City Government should introduce measures to combat excessively high rental prices in the city’s East District (東區), which has caused an exodus of shops from the area, Taipei City Councilor Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) said on Thursday.
The informal district refers to alleys and backstreets near the intersection of Zhongxiao E Road and Dunhua S Road.
A number of renowned stores, such as outlets of South Korean clothing chain H:Connect, hot pot chain Man Tang Hung and shaved ice shop Ice Monster, have all moved out of the area due to high rental fees, Wang said.
Ice Monster’s East District store was paying NT$13,000 per ping (3.3m2), NT$2,000 more than rents for stores on Tokyo’s Omotesando, she said, referring to an avenue that is home to numerous fashion flagship stores.
Despite high taxes on real estate in Japan, rental fees are cheaper than in Taipei, Wang said, adding that the city government must resolve the issue.
She pointed to data showing that visitors to areas near the Zhongxiao E Road-Fuxing S Road and Zhongxiao E Road-Dunhua S Road intersections have been decreasing over the past five years, saying that they are on the verge of collapse.
The statistics show that a city government plan to revitalize the East District is a complete failure, she added.
Office of Commerce official Chiang Mei-ling (江美玲) said that the city government is responsible for management of commercial zones and improving infrastructure.
Holding events to draw crowds, setting up signs, implementing measures to draw stores to commercial zones and setting rental rates are the responsibility of the individual zones and property owners, Chiang said.
However, the city government could contact borough wardens and property owners to assist in negotiating rent reductions, she said.
There are fewer empty buildings in the East District than there were several years ago, she added.
Citing statistics from global realty investment and consulting firm Cushman and Wakefield, Chiang said that the East District’s commercial zone vacancy rate was 12.5 percent in the first quarter of this year and dropped to 10.1 percent in the second quarter.
A survey by the zone’s development committee of Guangwu (光武), Jianan (建安), Jianlun (建倫) and Renai (仁愛) boroughs showed a 40 percent decrease in vacancies, she said.
While many stores have left the area, many more have opened up, such as a clothing store founded by singer Show Luo (羅志祥, also known as Alan Luo), Japanese restaurant chain Osaka Spiced Curry and StayReal Cafe, a joint venture by Mayday lead vocalist (阿信) and designer No2good (不二良), she added.
Rents in the area have decreased, especially after borough wardens became aware of subleasing problems and facilitated direct communication between landlords and tenants, Chiang said.
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