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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Fully Chinese-funded hotel set to open
The Hecheng Building on Nanjing E Road in Taipei is pictured on Friday. Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
HIGH-ROLLERS: U Hotel Taipei, started by a niece of a former Chinese vice president, seems to be aimed at wealthy Chinese tourists, observers said
By Hsu I-ping / Staff reporter
China’s “princelings” have not lagged behind in securing a share in Taiwan’s tourism boom with an eye toward Chinese tourists’ spending power, as Zeng Baobao （曾寶寶）, former Chinese vice president Zeng Qinghong’s （曾慶紅） niece, has leased a building in Taipei on Nanjing E Road via the Taiwan Fantasia Development Co （台灣花樣年開發公司） she founded for the U Hotel Taipei.
Following Chinese and Hong Kong “end-to-end” investments in travel agencies, sightseeing buses, hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops, U Hotel Taipei is the first hotel fully funded by Chinese capital in Taiwan.
Fantasia Holdings Group （中國花樣年控股集團）, a developer in China founded in 1996 by Zeng Baobao, has its main projects in Shenzhen and Chengdu in China, and was listed in Hong Kong in 2009.
Department of Commerce registration data show that Hong Kong’s Fantasia Holdings Group on March 28, 2011, applied to set up Taiwan Fantasia Development Co as a “Chinese investment,” with registered capital of NT$35 million （US$1.12 million） and Hong Kong Fantasia Holdings Group （香港花樣年投資控股集團） chief executive Pan Jun （潘軍） as its chairman.
Taiwan Fantasia has leased the Hecheng building on Nanjing E Road Sec 3 from Wanda Investment Corp Ltd （萬達投資公司）, owned by Cathay Financial Holding Co’s （國泰金控） Tsai Cheng-da （蔡政達）, since July last year.
The building has a total floor area of 1,220.97 ping （4,036.3m2）, and rents for NT$35.4 million a year, according to information provided by the Ministry of the Interior.
Considering that Cathay Group’s Tsai family bought the building for NT$1.6 billion, the return on rental income — estimated with real rental income — is just 2.21 percent.
Michael Wang （王維宏）, an account manager at Global Asset Management Co （全球資產）, an asset management unit of Sinyi Realty Inc （信義房屋）, said the building is on a corner plot and has 12 stories of about 104.55 ping each.
Wanda Investment Co acquired the building from Seasons Hotel Royal in March 2013 for NT$1.6 billion, said Wang, who speculated that Tsai is aiming at a long-term end of city renewal integration, with rent income as its short-term gain.
U Hotel Taipei has 58 rooms and with four room types. According to a hotel room reservation Web site, rooms are priced from NT$8,470 per night to NT$11,550.
The price range implies that the hotel is targeting individual Chinese tourists, rather than Chinese visitors traveling in tour groups, observers said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
