BES Engineering Corp (中華工程) said it expects to obtain a use permit for a high-profile residential building in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) next month, which would allow it to launch a sales campaign and boost revenue in the second half of the year.
The company spent six years developing luxury home project Taozhu Garden (陶朱隱園) — reportedly Taiwan’s most expensive property selling at NT$6 million (US$199,867) per ping (3.3m2), twice the rate for apartments elsewhere in the neighborhood.
Structural engineer Chang King-le (張敬禮) on Thursday vouched for the building’s safety, telling reporters that the company used the “safest and strongest” building materials on the project, and it would survive fatal earthquakes and storms unharmed.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Core Pacific Group (威京集團) chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) “gave him a free hand” in pursuing structural safety and environmental friendliness, Chang said.
Core Pacific owns BES Engineering and a dozen other businesses.
The building materials are of the same grade as those used for Taipei 101, the Tokyo Skytree, Apple Inc’s headquarters and “nuclear power plants,” Chang added.
The company has not settled on a pricing strategy for the building, but the rumored NT$6 million per ping is not far-fetched, BES spokeswoman Vivian Cheng (程安慈) said.
“Mr Sheen has allowed his son to steer the group in recent years,” Cheng said. “He would like the highest prices possible for the apartments, even though he does not like to label them luxury homes.”
The 21-story complex offers 40 extravagant apartments of about 300 ping each and elevators that are large enough to lift sports cars, luxury furniture and collections, BES said.
The company is currently attaching 23,000 plants to the facade, which could absorb 130 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, making the complex more environmentally friendly, Cheng said.
The tower will no doubt be the most expensive residential complex in Taiwan when it comes on the market, Chinese-language Housing Monthly (住展雜誌) research manager Ho Shih-chang (何世昌) said.
The central bank has maintained credit controls on luxury housing of NT$80 million in Taipei and NT$40 million elsewhere to help stabilize the property market.
BES Engineering has NT$29 billion in civil engineering contracts on hand this year, including public construction works at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and the Shihmen Reservoir, and on the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit System and the Ministry of National Defense’s dormitories, Cheng said.
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