Archive for City News

Shanghai’s Spider Web project: 22 Metro Lines

Shanghai’s future Spider Web project: 22 Metro Lines.
If you thought Shanghai already had a large Subway System you’ll like it even more until 2020.
Summa Summarum, there are 22 Lines planned to open for shanghai’s commuters by the year 2020.

What are the most noteworthy extensions and new lines?
The Number 2 Line will be directly connected to the Pudong International Airport and Pudong’s Railway Station (if you wondered, yes, there is one, very, very far away, on land that wasn’t shanghai 20 years ago).

The Best Part of the Line 2 extension that is scheduled to be completed by 2010? To the South it will also be connected to the Hongqiao International Airport (as will line 10), which means that if you mixed up your departing Airport and still have a little time left there is a good chance that you’d still catch your flight by hopping in the Train and taking it all the way in the other direction.

I know many of our customers like to take trips to islands and quiet places nearby the city. 
From next ‘09 it will be very convenient to go for a beach trip to Chongming Island if you’ll live along the No. 9 Subway Line. 
The Line will be the world’s longest subway line and connect a historic town in the south, the University Town of Songjiang, Jiu Ting, the Water Town of Qibao, Many of the Manufacturers around Guilin Road, Ikea, Xujiahui, Xintiandi, the Expo Site, Century Avenue, Jin Qiao and Chongming Island.

Xintiandi will benefit from the urban planning as 7 new stations are being built around the popular shopping and entertainment center.

After years of neglect, Gubei one of the cities most developed and popular areas will be connected by Line 10 and 16.

All in all Shanghai will have the world’s largest subway line, and I think we will see a lot of urbanization and real estate developments in the area’s around Chongming.

Maybe Shanghai will become a lot like New York and the U.S. where most people will commute from the suburbs into the city every day.
Downtown Shanghai will become more luxury oriented, more commercial than residential.

An indication that this is the trend are google searches for Songjiang Housing Price’s and Kang Cheng Houses
(a compound in Songjiang Districts) are exploding lately.

Check it out here at google insights

Even with the current downwards trend, it’s unlikely prices will fall enough so that ordinary office workers can buy any of the places downtown.
Most of them are also dreaming of a car, new gadgets and are therefore not willing to spend all of their lifesavings in a home like their parents did.
And it seems like Shanghai’s outer districts will become a lot more interesting for first timers as they can reach almost everywhere from anywhere.

 

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M1NT Shanghai to open it’s doors soon next month

About 2 Weeks to go until M1NT Shanghai is going to open it’s curtains to private members only.
The Club a joint-venture between Alistair Paton and his Patrons (yes, you can actually own part of the club) is set for its pre-launch on October 11th.

Reading up about it, the venue seems like on hell of a place.
On the 24th floor of the former Pidemco Tower (now M1NT Tower) will cover an area of nearly 200square meters and the renovation by itself will have cost about 8 Million US$.

It will feature a huge deck with jacuzi and lounges and a wonderful view of the Huang Pu River. 

At first I thought getting 2000 Members may be a little much, and only to let the people in that will buy a membership sounded a little harsh.
But…
I’ve browsed through a couple of forums (or bbs as they call it here) and the club is already actively discussed by many wealthy and young people in the nearby cities that had already heard about it.
In a Forum about Zhejiangs Nightlife more than a 100 people replied that they are thinking of investing.
The Forum quotes the membership prices at a minimum of 50K US$ upwards.
Seems like there is quite a lot a interest, and I wonder if it will pay out for the investors.
And all of a sudden 2000 Members doesn’t seem like a lot anymore.

Anyway, Shanghai just got a lot more interesting, the city is already claiming the most growth and the title of china’s most exciting city.
I believe an Establishment like M1NT will give Shanghai more credibility to become a true world metropolis level with the likes of Paris, London, New York, Tokyo or Hong Kong.

Sideinfo:
The 1998 built tower is one of Shanghai’s finest Office Towers and was in the headlines 2005 when Goldman and Sachs aquired it for 107.6 Million US$ from Capita Land.

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