Can a 510,000-yuan creditor's claim topple the 218-meter skyscraper? The game among creditors in the bankruptcy liquidation of Tianji Dongfang Mansion

Standing quietly at 218 meters high, the Skyline Oriental Tower rises along the urban landscape of Yueqing, a county-level city under Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province.

This super high-rise building delivered in 2021, which integrates a five-star hotel, LOFT apartments and catering brands, was once a prominent urban calling card of this county whose developed growth engine is the private economy. However, now, as the core subject of a bankruptcy liquidation case, it is re-entering the market's field of vision.

According to Viewpoint New Media, on November 4 this year, the core assets of the Skyline Oriental Tower will be put on judicial auction for the fourth time. The starting price is 271 million yuan, which is only about 51% of the assessed price of 529 million yuan. Previously, the project had gone through three auctions, all of which ended in unsold status.

As of the press time of Viewpoint New Media, no one has registered to participate in the fourth auction.

The debt of 510,000 yuan

Tracing back to the owner of the Skyline Oriental Tower, Yueqing Qingde Real Estate Co., Ltd. was established in November 2017 with a registered capital of 300 million yuan, and it is one of the core real estate enterprises participating in the development and construction of the city's new district.

After its establishment, Yueqing Qingde Real Estate began to develop a 218-meter super high-rise building. At that time, the real estate market was still in an upward cycle, and the landmark projects in county towns were regarded as a symbol of urban competitiveness. The business combination of five-star hotels, LOFT apartments, catering and banquets may be reasonable in first- and second-tier cities, but in a county-level city, is the demand base sufficient to support such a huge supply?

The answer has been written in several failed auctions. On December 19, 2025, the People's Court of Yueqing ruled to accept its bankruptcy liquidation application. The creditor who filed the application is New Century Development Group Co., Ltd., whose matured debt is only 512,600 yuan.

After the People's Court of Yueqing ruled to accept the application, on January 14, 2026, it designated Zhejiang Zejian Law Firm and Zhejiang Jiaruicheng Law Firm to jointly serve as the administrator.

On March 18, the first creditors' meeting was held. There were 349 creditors with voting rights in total, and the total amount of unsecured claims was about 247 million yuan. During the meeting, the "Property Management and Realization Plan", the "Bankruptcy Property Distribution Plan" and the "Proposal on Holding Creditors' Meetings and Voting by Off-site Means" were all passed with an approval rate of over 96%.

512,620 yuan is almost negligible for a real estate enterprise with a registered capital of 300 million yuan. However, the bankruptcy procedure does not look at the absolute scale of the debt. When a company cannot even pay off such a small debt, the law presumes that it has lost its solvency.

Therefore, as the liquidation process advances to this day, traces of the disposal of the enterprise's property ownership have emerged. On October 21, 2026, the Yueqing Bureau of Natural Resources and Planning issued an announcement. Due to the failure to recover the real estate property right certificates or registration certificates related to the Skyline Oriental Tower held by Yueqing Qingde Real Estate, the relevant certificates and certifications are hereby announced invalid.

Shortly afterwards, the Skyline Oriental Tower ushered in its fourth auction.

In fact, during the first auction, the Skyline Oriental Tower was priced at 529 million yuan, which was basically the same as the assessed price. The subject matter included the real estates of Building 12, Room 101 and Room 106 of Building 13 of the tower, and it was unsold in the end because no one registered; the starting price of the second auction was greatly reduced compared with the assessed price, but still no one registered; during the third auction, the starting price continued to drop, but the auction still failed.

Now, as the fourth auction is about to be held, the starting price of the Skyline Oriental Tower has dropped to 271 million yuan, which is only half of its assessed price.

However, even with the price cut by half, the market remains silent at present.

The Curse of Unsold Auctions

From a commercial perspective, the Skyline Oriental Tower is a super high-rise commercial complex at the county and city level in Zhejiang, with business formats covering hotels, apartments and catering. The liquidity of such assets is generally weaker than that of residential properties. After all, such projects require buyers to have professional operation capabilities, relevant resources and long-term operating funds.

In the current environment where the entire commercial real estate sector is under pressure, there are not many buyers who are willing and capable of taking over the assets.

In addition, the 218-meter landmark of the Skyline Oriental Tower has a certain say in the context of a county town, but in the capital market, it means that the assets are too concentrated, and the operation can mostly only rely on the local market.

Apart from the core assets of the Skyline Oriental Tower, the scattered housing properties under the name of Yueqing Qingde Real Estate have also had a rough fate.

In May 2026, 25 unsold LOFT apartments on the 18th to 36th floors of Building 13 in the same tower entered the first auction, with a total construction area of about 1726.27 square meters, and the auction failed because no one made a bid; in August, some of the housing properties entered the second auction at a lower price, but still no one registered. Among them, the assessed price of Room 2807, Building 13 was 1.41 million yuan, the starting price of the first auction was 1.269 million yuan, and the price for the second auction and the disposal by public sale had dropped to 1.1421 million yuan, but no one took over the property all the time.

In addition, in April 2026, 3 shops under the name of Yueqing Qingde Real Estate located at No. 6698 Xuyang Road, Chengdong Subdistrict, Yueqing were listed for auction, with a total construction area of about 655.13 square meters, and the starting prices ranged from 1.434 million yuan to 4.367 million yuan.

The project where these shops are located is Yueqing Haidi Yiting, which was independently developed by Yueqing Qingde Real Estate. It is worth noting that it shares the same name with a project developed by an affiliated company of CK Hutchison Holdings in Houchie, Dongguan, Guangdong Province.

The collective failure of the auctions of scattered housing properties echoes the dilemma of the core assets. It does not indicate the failure of a certain type of product, but the liquidity dilemma of the entire asset package in the current market environment.

It is worth noting that in addition to the high-altitude bar and body beauty center, the auctioned project this time also includes serviced apartments. According to materials checked by Viewpoint New Media, most of the apartments have been in operation since 2022-2024. Take the Xiang Yunduan Seaview Apartment opened in 2024 as an example, its daily rental price is in the range of about 200-400 yuan; the price of the Courtyard by Marriott, the landmark hotel in the project, ranges from 600 to 1500 yuan.

In fact, the serviced apartment project itself has a disadvantage in terms of property right term: such assets generally have a 40-year or 50-year property right, and household registration cannot be settled here, nor do they have the added value of school districts. These characteristics can be covered by the expected future growth in the initial stage of the project, but in the current market environment, they may become factors that crush the liquidity of the operator.

Now, the bankruptcy property distribution plan of Yueqing Qingde Real Estate has been passed, but the actual implementation of the plan depends on whether the assets can be realized.

If the fourth auction on November 4 fails again, the enterprise will face more difficult choices: either further reduce the price, or continue to split the assets for disposal. But every choice means further compression of the creditors' rights and interests.

For the 349 creditors of the Skyline Oriental Tower, how much they can finally get back depends to a certain extent on whether the auction on November 4 can break the curse of zero registrations.

This article is from the WeChat Official Account "Viewpoint", the author is Viewpoint New Media, and 36Kr is authorized to republish it.