3 Million Square Meters of International Intellectual Style City

konjaku: this article gives some background and perspective on the Shou’er Tiancheng real estate development (in English “Seoul Sweet City” or just “Sweet City”) on the eastern periphery of Beijing, in Hebei. As indicated in the last two posts, buyers of residences will be able to send their children to the 12 year multi-school campus being built within the “city.” Other advantages and attractions are described below.
As far as I can tell, there is not a good mass transit option to Beijing from Yanjiao, although more roads connecting to the city are under construction, to relieve congestion on the main highway (G102). The developer proposes that as Shou’er Tiancheng is built, Yanjiao itself will become a complete city, a center for high tech industries. Residents will be able to both live and work there.

Shou’er Tiancheng has its 10,000th buyer
2014-03-13
http://news.163.com/14/0313/21/9N8G3JJN00014Q4P.html

In 2013, the main Beijing real estate battlefield was not in Beijing city itself, but occurred in a 5 kilometer radius spanning the city periphery. Purchase prices in Beijing have seemed too high, especially since Beijing put restrictions on home purchases. The periphery outside the city has been the place where “New Beijingers” select to settle down. This has led to an eruption of new residences in Yanjiao, Xianghe, Gu’an, and Langfang. Among these, Yanjiao is often the first choice, for its favorable environment, and the fact that it got started earlier. All the necessary social infrastructure is already in place, and urbanization is well advanced. In a mere 10 years, Yanjiao has gone from being a small town, a “Northern floater town” and a “bedtown” for Beijing, to becoming an international, high quality city. It already provides all the amenities of a new community district, and an upgraded industrial park. Shou-er Tiancheng (Seoul Sweet City, or just “Sweet City”), which started development at the end of 2012, is an outstanding addition.

Shou’er Tiancheng began accepting purchase offers on 2012-12-29. After 429 days, they had exceeded 10,000 purchases. If one calculates 21 business days [weekdays] in a month, and 8 hours to a day, that means someone purchased a Shou’er Tiancheng property on average every 13 minutes since the start date. Six times they made group offerings for sale of residences in newly completed buildings, from 2000 at a time to 800 at a time, and each time, these sold out on the same day. Relying on this pace, in 2013 they have cleared 7,000,000,000 yuan ($1,137, 300,000 –1 billion, 137 million dollars), competing for the crown in real estate sales in the greater Beijing area.

The Ms Wang who signed the 10,000th contract on 03-02, is a typical Shou’er Tiancheng client, her expectations concerning what sort of residence and living area she wants are quite high.

She, and similar clients, get, within the Shou’er Tiancheng site:
an international grade office building complex with research and development into digital cameras, computers, television, optics, and new medicinal drugs, as well as a manufacturing base for these products. Also an IT research and development arm, with product development of software, networking, etc.

An International Design Center central district where one can shop, live, and work. This is suitable for those who can work from home or from a home office. They could link to biological, chemical and IT research centers planned to be built within and without the district, with an efficiency comparable to the Hong Kong-Macao –Pearl River Delta alliance.

The Beijing East Number One International Shopping Mall –300,000 square meters of world class shopping and entertainment options, with name brands from all over the world.

To solve the problem of one’s child getting into a “nearby school,” Shou’er Tiancheng offers a top quality educational system, from kindergarden through middle school, available to Shou’er Tiancheng residents, as well as Yanjiao townspeople. Those children within the area served by the school will receive an enviable elite education, starting with an internal bilingual kindergarden.

An international hospital has been established to offer complete medical care for the entire lifetimes of the residents. Every resident will have a yearly check-up, a file on each will be kept free of charge, and they are eligible for ongoing health evaluations and counseling. The hospital will also offer on-line psychological counseling.

Some images of Shou’er Tiancheng features (click on images to enlarge):

Interview with the first client to sign:

On 2012-12-29, when Shou’er Tiancheng first offered residences for sale, 806 went in the first day. The first person to sign a contract was a Ms Yang. She waited at the sales reception area from early in the morning, and her salesperson worked with incredible speed to get her contract drawn up. Ms Yang said the Shou’er Tiancheng plan was far-sighted and scientific. Encircled by the Chaobai and Xingu rivers, the natural setting and 45% green area made it a fit place to grow old. At the same time, the education opportunity made it suitable for families with small children. Ms Yang and her husband are pleased at their choice, believing that Shou’er Tiancheng really delivers what it promises.

Photos of Shou’er Tiancheng under construction in 2013:

The 10,000th client, Ms Wang.
Ms Wang is a typical representative of those who purchase residences at Shou’er Tiancheng. She works in Bejing’s central business district, her month income is over 10,000 yuan ($1,626), she is careful in her purchases. She is interested in fashions, in convenience, in quality of life. She told this reporter that earlier this year she heard about Yanjiao. As a member of the “northern floaters” tribe, she felt she never had a choice of where to live, but just went where she was forced to go. She never thought of taking a look at Yanjiao, but she found it was a fully modern city, with a Carrefour, Walmart, movie theaters, and every kind of restaurant. In the Shou’er Tiancheng complex itself they plan to build a large scale shopping mall, a shopping street at the water’s edge, a Korean style lane with three floors of stores. International and fashionable, it will be a place where young people gather. The health service center is also an important convenience.

For Ms Wang, the most special feature is a service aimed at young people, the “youth dining room.” You can buy a ticket at the window for meal service, or you can reserve in advance one of the twenty kitchen spaces, and use these to prepare your own meal, with ingredients provided. Ms Wang says this is very convenient for the lifestyle of young people.

Model rooms:

The 10,001 client was a Mr Zhu. When he came on 03-02 he had already determined exactly what he wanted to purchase, a residence in the International MOBO Center, with 40 year property rights, believing this would provide the most value for his investment. As someone who works in the finance industry, he is especially cognizant of how to recognize a good investment opportunity. The population of Beijing is dispersing from its previous pattern of high density to areas outside the city. Based on this constantly reiterated news, Hebei and Tianjin are competing to snap up the as yet undeveloped real estate outside Beijing city, to capitalize on this population shift. However, in this contest the outlook for Yanjiao is comparatively calm, since Yanjiao, being closer to Beijing than other areas, has already been the site of a number of high-end developments.

Yanjiao has become the second most successful county administered high tech free economic zones in China, after Kunshan [in the Suzhou region]. Over the next twenty years it will work to achieve the same fame as Zhongguancun [China’s silicon valley], such that people will eventually say, “in the west is Zhongguancun, in the east is Yanjiao.” Therefore, there is no need to have doubts about investing in Yanjiao. The Yanjiao real estate market is not merely about giving satisfaction to residential buyers, it is also a market for those who want to invest in the type of real estate whose value is projected to increase over time, as a hedge against inflation.

Notes: northern floater. A floater refers to a migrant worker. A northern floater is also someone without a household registry in Beijing, but who has graduated from college and either works or is looking for work in the high tech industry.

bedtown: a town outside the larger city where commuters live, coming home only to sleep, a town without a fully developed urban infrastructure.

首尔·甜城 Shou’er Tiancheng
燕郊 Yanjiao
香河 Xianghe
固安 Gu’an
廊坊 Langfang
北漂城 Northern floater town
睡城 bedtown
MOBO国际中心 International MOBO Center