Sino-Ocean eyes commercial properties

A costume performance was held at the opening ceremony of the Tianjin Sino-Ocean We-Life Future Plaza on Jan 1, 2014 in Tianjin. [Photo / Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Following the successful launch of the Beijing We-Life Future Plaza, a second We-Life shopping mall now stands in Tianjin's Hedong district.

The opening ceremony of the Tianjin Sino-Ocean We-Life Future Plaza was held on Jan 1, 2014. Wang Fushun, vice-president of Sino-Ocean Land Holdings Ltd, attended the ceremony.

Tianjin Sino-Ocean We-Life Future Plaza marks the third shopping center to be built by Sino-Ocean Land Holdings and also one of the constituent parts of the "Tianjin Sino-Ocean International Center," which represents Tianjin's first self-developed and self-operated urban complex.

With a total area of 130,000 square meters, the Tianjin Sino-Ocean We-Life Future Plaza is located in the CBD trading area of Hedong district. It is only 10 km from the Tianjin Binhai International Airport and less than 100 meters from the Sino-Ocean International Center stop on Tianjin's Line 2 subway.

The mall was built with the theory of "We Life" in mind, which combines ideas on public space building, energy saving, environment protection and leisure experiences along with shopping, catering and entertainment. The interior was designed by Tanseisha, a Japanese firm that works on research, planning, design, construction, and operations on commercial, public, hospitality, cultural, business and event spaces.

Inside the new shopping mall, retail stores such as H&M, MLB and DB GROUP, and restaurants like Youth Restaurant and US fast food chain Burger King now occupy about 30 percent of its business area.

An ice-skating club headed up by Li Ning, one of China's most famous gymnasts and managed by Wang Rui, champion of Asian ice dancing was established and an international standard ice stadium was also built to meet consumers' training and competition demands.

Another important element of the new shopping mall is its theme parks for kids. Two entertainment areas including toys, children gyms, and children.s entertainment facilities were built in the mall to attract families with young children.

According to Wang Fushun, vice-president of Sino-Ocean Land Holdings, the plaza utilizes differentiation and elaboration to improve its regional function and to fill in the blanks within the field of commercial projects for child entertainment. The plaza also stimulates the consumption needs of families, while driving and supporting related industries such as catering, cosmetology and film, to name just a few.

Meanwhile, a giant movie screen, already dubbed "The Biggest one in North China" was built inside the mall's Capital Cinema.

Founded in 1993, Sino-Ocean Land Holdings was listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on September 28, 2007. The company focuses on developing mid-to-high end residential properties, along with high-end office and retail facilities.

According to a China Daily report from Aug 21, 2013, Sino-Ocean Land jointly worked with Columbia Pacific Management, a company based in Seattle, US, to develop and invest in an upscale senior-living community on the southern outskirts of Beijing, and subsequently won a for-profit operating license.

The business strategy of Sino-Ocean Land.s commercial properties development has the slogan "Four, Three, One Method," which means 40% percent of Sino-Ocean Land's total assets will be invested in the development of commercial real estate, to make 30% percent profit and the revenue will reach to 10% of the general turnover of the company.

According to a recent Sino-Ocean Land press release, in the next two years, the company will roll out 500 thousand square meters of commercial real estate in Beijing, Tianjin, Shenyang, Dalian, Hangzhou and Zhongshan with yearly opening projects secured at over 200 thousand square meters.

Before the Tianjin Sino-Ocean We-Life Future Plaza, a We-Life Future Plaza opened on Feb 2, 2013 in Beijing's Chaoyang district.