Friday 4 September 2009
Unearthing the past leaves Wharf stymied
When archaeologists dug up evidence of a 1,000-year-old Tang-Song dynasty street in the middle of Chengdu two years ago - complete with house walls, a Buddhist temple and other relics - it was cause for celebration. Except that is for Wharf (Holdings), the developer.
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Unearthing the past leaves Wharf stymied
Sandy Li
04 September 2009
When archaeologists dug up evidence of a 1,000-year-old Tang-Song dynasty street in the middle of Chengdu two years ago - complete with house walls, a Buddhist temple and other relics - it was cause for celebration. Except that is for Wharf (Holdings), the developer.
In 2007, Wharf paid a record 7.24 billion yuan (HK$8.21 billion) for the 53,850 square metre site - more or less the same size as Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui. But for two years it has been stymied in its plan to build a new mega shopping/luxury living complex. The conflicting interests of development and historic preservation are still being sorted out.
The land bought by Wharf is in Chengdu’s most expensive downtown area, Hongxing Road, today’s business centre. The 7.24 billion yuan bid was the third-highest on the mainland.
Wharf planned to spend HK$10 billion on its flagship development, comparable to Harbour City and Times Square. The 4.72 million sq ft complex, named Chengdu IFC, would comprise a mega mall, top-grade office space, a five-star hotel and luxury homes. The first phase, the mega retail complex and one office tower, is now scheduled to be completed by the first half of 2013, two years behind schedule.
In October 2007, the Chengdu Municipal Institute of Archaeology began a site investigation before Wharf started the foundation work. After more than a year of exploration, it found Tang and Song dynasty remains - 22 houses, a brick road, precious bowls, dishes, a stone statue of Buddha and a sophisticated sewage system - all showing a well planned city.
Only one-sixth of the historical site is on Wharf land, but archaeologists say it contains some of the most precious artefacts.
Wang Wei, an archaeologist at Sichuan University’s Archaeological Experiment Centre, said Chengdu was an important commercial city during the Tang and Song dynasties.
One of China’s oldest cities, Chengdu was for some time the home of the poet Li Bai , and the first city to adopt the widespread use of paper money.
Mainland officials recently trumpeted the find as one of the top 10 archaeological discoveries in the nation last year. Some mainland archaeologists are pressing for the preservation of the relics at all costs.
But from a business perspective, rising construction costs and the difficulty of blending an historic site into a new development would require drastic revisions in design, involving lengthy delays.
The immediate suspension of construction raised concerns that Wharf would use the discovery as an excuse to abandon the investment.
After all, the shockingly high land price paid already made it difficult to make a profit. In terms of accommodation value - the cost of the land per square foot of total developed floor area - the 16,500 yuan per square metre was far higher than current transaction prices of 10,000 yuan per square metre for luxury apartments.
Eight years ago, tycoon Stanley Ho Hung-sun returned a site to the Guangzhou government after the remains of a Qin dynasty shipyard were found, according to Christopher Law, director at the Hong Kong-based architectural firm Oval Partnership. Oval is not involved in the Wharf project but has been working with several archaeologically sensitive developments.
However, the Chengdu government was eager to transform the city into China’s western Wall Street and was reluctant to let Wharf walk away from the land-sale agreement.
It is unclear whether Wharf has paid the 7.24 billion yuan in full. A Wharf spokeswoman said only: “The instalment will be paid according to schedule.”
At first, the Chengdu government offered an easy compromise. It would keep some of the pottery remains and a Buddha statue head for research purposes, according to sources close to the project. It would return the land to the developer to proceed with the landmark development. But that plan changed drastically when the State Administration of Cultural Heritage stepped in and insisted on the need to preserve all the relics by declaring it a top 10 heritage discovery of 2008.
However, since this body has no budget to compensate for losses from deferring the project, the developer lobbied the Chengdu government to sweeten the deal. After lengthy negotiations, the government decided to preserve the most historically valuable discoveries and asked Wharf to build a museum.
“Delays cost money and [Wharf] stands to dig deeper in its pocket,” Law, the architect, said. “But it will not be more than 15 per cent of the original budget.”
Housing the antiquities could be difficult. “But Hong Kong developers’ mentality is to maximise the profit of every square foot,” Law said. “They should see the relics as an asset. It is rare for an upmarket shopping mall and hotel on the mainland to also feature Tang and Song dynasty artefacts.”
A Wharf spokeswoman refused to disclose details about the development plan, but said: “The design will be integrated with the discovery of the relics.” Foundation work is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of this year.
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