Hoping to add another landmark to the Taipei skyline following the completion of Taipei 101, the Miramar Entertainment Park (
One of the park's eye-catching structures is its rooftop Ferris wheel, measuring 70m in diameter and the second-largest in Asia, after the wheel atop the Hip Five shopping center in Osaka, Japan.
"The wheel has 48 colored carriages and will bring a romantic element to our shopping mall," said Kevin Chen (
Bathed by neon light in the evening, the wheel can carry 288 people at any one time.
Miramar Urban developed the idea for the shopping-center project about four years ago and began construction last year.
The five-floor center will also house the nation's first IMAX movie theater, a nine-screen theater complex, food courts and a 400-franchise department store, Chen said.
Although the project is fully funded by the Huang family -- the former owners of the defunct Taipei Hotel Miramar (
However, a plot of land near the center has been reserved for the rebirth of the hotel, he added.
With significant spending power in the area, especially with the Neihu Technology Park situated nearby employing tens of thousands of white-collar workers, Chen said it was hoped the complex would attract not only local residents but also tourists from central and southern Taiwan.
"We are optimistic that the Miramar, situated between the National Palace Museum and the Martyrs' Shrine, will become a hot spot for tourism," Chen said.
Tachih has lured some retailers and businesses, with Ministry of Sound, Asia's biggest purpose-built club, already opening in March.
In addition, a Far Eastern Geant (
Alexander Health Club (
But in stark contrast to the company's rosy outlook for the area, real estate consultancies were more reserved.
Maggie Chiu (
"Unless they introduce special brands or add unique themes to achieve a distinct `market segment,' it will be difficult to keep customer traffic," Chiu said.
The MRT's Neihu line, due to open in 2007, places a station right in front of the Miramar, but until construction is completed, uncertainties lie ahead for the new shopping center, she added.
Another property expert agreed that it is too early to say whether the area would evolve into a mature commercial district such as Hsinyi.
"It takes time to develop an area and cultivate a customer base," said Wendy Hsueh (薛惠珍), director of research at DTZ Debenham Tie Leung.
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in artificial-intelligence (AI) chips, yesterday said that small-volume production of 3-nanometer (nm) chips for a key customer is on track to start by the end of this year, dismissing speculation about delays in producing advanced chips. As Alchip is transitioning from 7-nanometer and 5-nanometer process technology to 3 nanometers, investors and shareholders have been closely monitoring whether the company is navigating through such transition smoothly. “We are proceeding well in [building] this generation [of chips]. It appears to me that no revision will be required. We have achieved success in designing
RSS