Taikoo Place enters Beijing, adding impetus to Beijing's "consumption upgrade".
In the past two years, the competition among first-tier cities has been particularly fierce, evolving from having their own strengths to a comprehensive all-round competition.
In addition to the "talent recruitment battle", GDP race, and infrastructure construction, the consumption field has become another main battlefield for the competition among the four major first-tier cities. Because consumption can not only drive economic growth, but also reflect the vitality of the city, the living standard, and is a major bargaining chip to attract young people.
When it comes to consumption, people's first impression would be the "Magic City". Shanghai has made an early layout in the consumption field and through continuous construction and renewal, it has built a large number of high-density landmark consumption venues in different sectors, obtaining more high-end commercial complexes, luxury/fashionable brand stores at regular prices, and high-end cosmetics stores, creating the trendy, "foreign style", and life-loving image of Shanghai.
In contrast, although Beijing has the shopping center with the highest single-unit sales in the country, it always gives people the feeling that Beijing lacks a life style, has few consumption landmarks, and shows an atmosphere of emphasizing hard work over light consumption.
However, this established pattern is being broken. According to the "Top 50 Chinese Cities' Development Potential List 2024" released by GeoQ Zhitu, Beijing has surpassed Shanghai to become the city with the highest consumption level this year.
Beijing is undoubtedly a city with potential, and the rapid growth of its consumption potential comes from the long-term development of the economy and technology on the one hand, and on the other hand, after the "Guiding Opinions on Cultivating and Constructing International Consumption Center Cities" was released in October 2019, Beijing's planning and construction in aspects such as creating new consumption landmarks and cultivating a consumption brand matrix, including the successive implementation of the first batch of 36 new consumption landmark projects including Yitie Port Phase II and the second Sanlitun.
New consumption landmarks are emerging, and through their creation, Beijing is undergoing a large-scale "consumption upgrade".
Yitie Port Mall
01 Is Beijing Not a City of Consumption? Wrong!
The consumption potential of Beijing can be seen from two data:
In the newly released "2024 Hurun Rich List", the city with the largest number of wealthy individuals on the list is Beijing (115 people), and it has been the top city for many years. Followed by Shanghai (112) and Shenzhen (108).
According to the 2024 New Middle-Class Population Insight Report data released by QuestMobile, as of July 2024, the scale of the new middle-class users across the entire network has reached 257 million. Among them, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou are at the forefront, with proportions of 5.6%, 5.1%, and 3.4% respectively. These new middle-class are more willing to conduct personalized consumption in fields such as technology, tourism, and new energy vehicles.
In terms of the consumption data of the entire city's residents, although Beijing is still behind the leading Shanghai, the gap between the two is continuously narrowing. In the first three quarters of this year, the gap in per capita consumption expenditure between Beijing and Shanghai narrowed to 8.3%, which is 2 percentage points smaller than the data for the entire last year.
According to the statistical data of 2023, Beijing ranks second in per capita disposable income among various cities, but its per capita consumption expenditure ranks fourth, forming a contrast between income and consumption.
Beijing has more wealthy individuals and middle-class, but its consumption data ranking is not high, which easily leads people to mistakenly believe that it is a city that does not like to consume. The reason may lie in the supply side.
According to third-party statistical data, in 2022, Beijing's per capita commercial area is approximately 0.89 square meters, ranking only 12th in the country. During the five years from 2018 to 2022, the newly opened commercial area in Beijing is less than 40% of that in Shanghai.
An important manifestation is that Beijing has a scarcity of consumption landmarks, with only a few such as Sanlitun, China World Trade Center, and Wangfujing. Most of the others are regional single shopping centers serving the local community, resulting in a limited consumption gravitational field.
Therefore, the overall idea of Beijing's current consumption promotion work is still "Adhering to the overall idea of 'Guiding and Creating New Demand with Supply-side Structural Reform' for consumption work, focusing on 'New Scenarios, New Brands, New Advantages, and New Environments', accelerating the recovery and expansion of consumption, and promoting the construction of an international consumption center city with high quality."
Yitie Port 2024 Coffee Festival
Industry is the cornerstone of a city, and consumption is a key indicator to measure the vitality of a city. It not only affects the temperament of a city, but also is an important link to promote the city's development, form a complete industrial chain around the city's industrial structure, and give the city greater attractiveness. And Beijing's continuous cultivation of high-quality industries, the continuous growth of industries such as finance, information technology, the Internet, new energy, low-altitude economy, and biomedicine, and the large number of development opportunities and middle and high-income groups they bring, are the confidence for Beijing to tap its consumption potential.
Based on the optimism about Beijing's future development and consumption, recently, Swire Properties announced that its landmark commercial project in the central area of Chaoyang District, Beijing - Yitie Port (INDIGO Beijing), will adopt a new project name "Taikoo Place Beijing" after the completion of its Phase II expansion. This move marks the first appearance of the company's renowned "Taikoo Place" brand in the Chinese mainland.
After the completion of Taikoo Place Beijing, the total construction area will increase to 860,000 square meters, including eight Grade A office buildings, a shopping center, an EAST Hotel and serviced apartments, becoming a landmark multi-functional commercial complex. Together with Sanlitun, China World Trade Center, and SOLANA, it will form a consumption landmark belt spanning the north and south of Chaoyang.
The Overall Project of Yitie Port
02 The First "Taikoo Place" in the Mainland, "Inherited" from Hong Kong
"SKP - Chaoyang Park - Taikoo Place - 798, we can visit them in one line in the future." Hearing the news of the official landing of Taikoo Place Beijing, some "fans" can't wait to plan a shopping and entertainment route.
It is understood that after the completion of the Phase II expansion of Yitie Port, not only the project area will expand nearly five times, but the business format will also be more diversified, integrating retail business, office, and urban park.
The Rendering of Taikoo Place Beijing
In the future, each office building within the Taikoo Place Beijing project will be connected to the retail, hotel and other supporting facilities, forming a corridor bridge and footpath system facing the central garden, creating a comfortable atmosphere of openness and relaxation, nature and leisure, and the integration of people and the community. The exterior of the project is connected to the subway to increase transportation convenience, and at the same time, it echoes the surrounding sports park and the hydrophilic ecological belt of the Ba River, forming a comprehensive shopping, entertainment and leisure commercial belt of "Taikoo Place Beijing + Ba River Hydrophilic Park + 798 Art District" in the core area of Jiangtai.
With the gradual construction of Taikoo Place Beijing and the hydrophilic ecological transformation of the Ba River, the entire Jiangtai area will become more enjoyable, and the city interface will also be renewed and become more vibrant.
"Taikoo Place" is a representative brand created by Swire Properties in Hong Kong. The first Taikoo Place in Hong Kong originated from the transformation and upgrade of Swire's Shipyard by Swire Properties. After 50 years of continuous renewal, Taikoo Place in Hong Kong now includes 10 connected office buildings and commercial centers such as Island East Centre, One Taikoo Place, Two Taikoo Place, Devon House, and PCCW Tower, becoming one of the most well-planned business districts in Hong Kong today, and "Taikoo Place" has also become a vibrant, all-encompassing and diverse commercial brand representative.
The Panoramic View of Taikoo Place in Hong Kong
As the first Taikoo Place in the mainland, the architectural form of Taikoo Place Beijing is different from that of Taikoo Place in Hong Kong. It adds seven super Grade A office buildings with a height of 80 meters, and also combines indoor and outdoor commerce, hotels and the social space "Delphi", providing people with a dual connection of matter and emotion, providing a city public space with spiritual value, and nurturing the upward force of the city within it.
From this perspective, Taikoo Place is not only a commercial space, but also a spirit and symbol of the continuous improvement of the city.
"After the completion of Taikoo Place Beijing, it is believed that it will become a new world-class landmark project, redefining the standards and experience of a high-quality commercial complex community, and promoting the community to become a unique and vibrant business center in Beijing." Peng Guobang, CEO of Swire Properties, said that Taikoo Place Beijing is planned to open in phases from the end of 2026, and by then, the Jiangtai area will welcome a more significant consumption landmark.
The Rendering of Taikoo Place Beijing
03 Taking Root in Beijing, Continuously Increasing Investment in the Mainland
Taikoo Place Beijing is currently Swire Properties' largest single investment and the largest-scale comprehensive development project in the mainland. The investment in Phase II alone amounts to approximately 23 billion yuan. It not only demonstrates the possibility of diverse integration of the new-generation commercial complex, but also is evidence of Swire Properties' commitment to long-termism and continuous increase of investment in Beijing.
In 2012, Beijing Yitie Port officially settled in Jiangtai Township, which had not yet emerged in the consumption and business sector in the capital at that time. By creating a vibrant community integrating office, shopping and leisure and entertainment, it has now become one of the most popular leisure, retail and business destinations in Chaoyang District. In 2020, the Phase II expansion was initiated, and the entire project is the future Taikoo Place Beijing.
Swire Properties closely follows the development footsteps of Beijing, becoming a witness and participant in Beijing's urban renewal and business development. It also provides Beijing and consumers from all over the country with a rich shopping, socializing, entertainment space and lifestyle, making the city more beautiful.
Swire Properties
In recent years, Swire Properties has been continuously increasing its investment in the mainland's business. In March 2022, Swire Properties announced the "HK$100 Billion Investment Plan", which plans to invest HK$50 billion in the mainland and HK$30 billion in Hong Kong in the next ten years. In just two years, Swire Properties has completed an investment of HK$44 billion in the "HK$100 Billion Investment Plan" in the mainland.
Up to now, the number of projects that Swire Properties has laid out in the mainland has also rapidly increased. Among them, Sanlitun Taikoo Li in Beijing, Yitie Port (and its under-construction Phase II), HKRI Taikoo Hui in Shanghai, Taikoo Li Qiantan (and the Qiantan Comprehensive Development Project), Taikoo Hui in Guangzhou, and Taikoo Li in Chengdu have all become landmark commercial centers in major cities.
With the excellent performance of each project, in the first half of this year, the total rental income from Swire Properties' retail properties in the mainland further increased by 10% year-on-year to 2.238 billion yuan, achieving both brand and revenue success.
With the landing and upgrading of high-quality projects such as Taikoo Place Beijing, Swire Properties' connection with the development of these cities has become closer, while driving a new consumption fashion trend and a new direction for business development, meeting people's material needs for a better life, and becoming a contributor to the prosperity and development of the city's culture.