For the first time, the city will build a hotel inside a historic
residential area called "Jianyeli" with shikumen-style buildings in Jianyeli,
Xuhui District.
The hotel site is in the center of city's former French
concession, on Yueyang Road and Jianguo Road W.
The Shanghai Hengfu
Property Co Ltd is in charge of the project, which involves renovating more than
100 1930s shikumen buildings, with 260 suites in total.
Shikumen style
buildings are stone arched houses built closely together in a mixed style of
East and West. These century-old buildings used to be the most typical housing
for the middle class.
The project calls for preserving the Shanghai
architectural character and elements of the buildings.
Hotel
construction is part of an urban renewal project of the Xuhui District, which
first started in 2002. The project aims to preserve historic sites and
architecture of the district.
"We have authorized a local business to
undertake hotel construction," said Wang Anshi, spokesperson of the Shanghai
Municipal Housing, Land and Resource Administration Bureau.
"We take
Xintiandi as a role model, and we'll try to do better," said Xuqing, market
development commissioner of Shanghai Hengfu. "But we will also set up a
commercial and an entertainment center like the Xintiandi."
The company
is now looking for foreign investors for the hotel project.
"It's very
likely that a deal will be signed within the next month," said Xu.
Once
the investment is settled, construction will start at once and the whole area is
scheduled to open in 2008. The 260 suites, measuring around 25,000 square meters
in total, were homes for 1,000 families in 2003, when the average living space
for each person was only 2 square meters.
Relocation of the Jianyeli
residents began in 2003 and was completed in mid-2005. Former Jianyeli residents
were offered lodgings with more space, but some were remote from the city
center.
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