Taiwan Land Development Corp (TLDC, 台灣土地開發) is adopting the name Taikai Group (台開集團) and is to raise NT$6 billion (US$201 million) in the next five years to take better advantage of its “smart” city, digital entertainment and preventive medicine businesses.
The company made its plans known at an investors’ conference in Taipei on Friday last week.
“We intend to expand our business interests at home and abroad,” Taikai Group chairman Chiu Fu-sheng (邱復生) said.
Toward that end, the company has adopted a new English name to reflect its diversified businesses that have grown from the development of government-owned industrial parks to the construction of residential complexes, theme parks, retail outlets, hotels and smart cities, Chiu said.
Several investment projects are about to bear fruit, he said.
A Taoist temple in Hsinchu County which has 148.84m2 of floor space is to begin operations later this month.
Religion is important for a healthy lifestyle, so the company is adding the facility to a theme park in Hsinchu to allow visitors to nurture their spiritual well-being, Chiu said.
Digital entertainment facility New Paradise (新天堂樂園) in Hualien, which is to be completed by the end of this year, is also to feature assorted sports activities, as well as augmented reality and virtual reality games, he said.
A flagship Starbucks outlet is due to begin operations in March, Chiu said.
The group is also to open a hotel with 186 guestrooms in Hualien by the end of next year, as well as teaming up with Marriott International Inc to operate another hotel with 320 rooms under the Aloft brand to court motorcycle riders, he said.
Aloft Hualien could begin operations as soon as April next year, he added.
In addition, the group expects to sell its Sunrise Village residential complex in Hualien that features the latest technology and an environmentally friendly design.
Taikai Group has also inked a cooperation pact with Japanese information science professor Ken Sakamura to turn Hualien into a smart city, making it more friendly for foreign visitors.
“The company aims to introduce cashless transactions in its facilities as e-commerce grows in popularity,” Chiu said.
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