My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 467 The Hexagonal Lord

That's right, it's the "Urban Master Plan" for Shanghai last year that determined to start building an internationally-standard international urban community on the edge of Shanghai's urban area, which is a mix of old concession buildings and later Khrushchev-style dormitory buildings.

Anyway, no one knows whose idea it was, but this Oriental Pearl, which has been shining for over a hundred years, first had well-funded overseas people, foreign experts, and compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan explore the path and see what modern urban construction is like.

Instead of patching things up wherever possible in the crowded city.

That's a very forward-thinking approach.

It's much more spacious than Beijing, where everything has to be done within the second, third, or fourth ring roads.

But the problem is that nobody can do it.

This is not just one or two buildings, but a planned area of ​​approximately 1.5 million square meters to be developed into a high-end new community.

Wei Dong decided that it would take many years to slowly fill up that 100,000-square-meter new factory area.

Later, the Xishan Electronics Park planned to build more than 20 communities around the Xishan Computer Building, covering an area of ​​about 150,000 square meters.

It's skyrocketing tenfold here!
After switching to a Flying Tiger brand minivan, they rushed to the city, where Wei Dong was surprised to see a long-lost photo.

Aerial view.

Having grown accustomed to viewing various satellite maps on mobile phones in later generations, zooming in, shifting, and navigating, using those incredibly rudimentary paper maps now is a pain.

There are now aerial photographs that can be enlarged to over ten inches, and even in black and white, they clearly depict the urban-rural fringe areas of Shanghai.

Wei Dong was overjoyed. He picked up the huge map of Shanghai hanging on the wall of the conference room and compared it with the map. He quickly confirmed that it was actually only two or three kilometers north of the Electronics Industrial Park, practically a neighbor.

"Yes, yes, it should be built to be beautiful and high-end... High-rise buildings, villas and townhouses should be built in different areas. We have just started such planning and construction at the Pingjing Automobile Manufacturing Plant."

Upon hearing this, the people in Shanghai actually breathed a sigh of relief: "Is this all the result of your study tours in Hong Kong and Japan?"

While flipping through the photo album in his backpack, Wei Dong added a few more points to be on the safe side: "We've also gone to inspect the architectural districts and communities, so please take a look."

Having gotten used to using his phone's photo album and having a work habit of taking photos of everything for future reference, coupled with the availability of cheap camera film, Wei Dong could go through dozens of rolls of film a month.

It's very convenient to filter and categorize them, especially recently when I went to Beijing to report to the Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry on the construction of the Xishan Electronics Building district, I carefully compiled a book.

After all, the land allocated by the Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry was somewhat confidential, and the enclosed enterprise compound was broken down into more than twenty small blocks, creating a complete commercial atmosphere.

It definitely needs to be made clear.

The "planning map" for the construction of the new Shangzhou district, the on-site topography, and the construction site are all displayed in photos, which is a feast for the eyes.

To understand why leaders are so busy, they can't all be experts in architecture, urban planning, and other fields; you still have to look at the things they compile.

What could be more intuitive than a picture? Only a video.

Anyway, Wei Dong made the most of the cheap camera: "Is this thing complicated? It is very complicated. Underground pipes, water supply and drainage, sewage and septic tank treatment, it's definitely a science. But what we laymen can see is mainly the streets, buildings and supporting facilities, so it's not that difficult. Look, this is actually a relatively high-end area in Tokyo, and there are still utility poles and overhead wires. It shows that they are improving as they go, and they don't have to do it all at once and put a lot of pressure on themselves..."

Damn it, later I saw those municipal departments constantly tearing up the road in front of their buildings for construction every few days. There's no such thing as a permanent solution.

It's possible that only after twenty or thirty years, when people have become so accustomed to it that they'll take it for granted and consider it normal.

Everyone in the room chuckled.

Most of the architectural design experts in Shanghai wouldn't dare to say such layman's things.

More importantly, I've never seen it before.

Around 1985, very few people were able to go abroad, and a significant portion of them never returned.

Therefore, it's normal for someone who's used to working on dormitories in the style of Khrushchev's buildings from the 1970s and 80s to be a little apprehensive about such high standards.

Wei Dong was simply trying to help: "Take a look at this photo. It's the residential area plan for the car manufacturing plant. It was hand-drawn by experts from the design institute. These two buildings are already under construction. They're selling commercial housing built through collective investment. Along this side, a row of high-rise buildings has been built. They've moved a large number of dormitory buildings and shantytowns from the 70,000 square meter factory area to develop upwards, freeing up a huge area. This area will be used as a commercial center, and over here will be several low-rise apartment buildings. They'll also build a lake, and a few villas by the lake will be for foreign experts and senior executives. This is a standard community."

When experts come, they always speak with style and enthusiasm, but when they leave the topic unresolved, they make things complicated.

When a layperson explains something to another layperson, it's simple and easy: "Who made this plan?"

Wei Dong didn't take credit for it: "I put it together myself, just based on what we learned from our overseas study trip. Jiangzhou's is centered around the Xishan Computer Building, with surrounding buildings. Shangzhou's is modeled after HK, with a farmers' market running through it. Pingjing Automobile Factory's feature is that the base of the outer buildings has 4S car dealerships... high-standard car sales shops. This commercial center is going to gather offices of car manufacturers from all over the country... oh, and this too."

I dug out photos of the Jiangzhou Zoo building complex, showing the completed scene, and compared them with the later plans for selling about ten buildings: "This is Jiangzhou Steel City, this is the city center, and the zoo is located on the western edge of the suburbs, similar to the one in Shanghai. We will focus on the zoo as the central theme. Of course, our project is more affordable and focuses on relocating residents from the city center to the periphery. This is just for your reference."

Finally, I recalled the construction of the two latest buildings in Pyeonggyeong: "This is the construction south of Pyeonggyeong Railway Station, facing the distant Brick Terrace. They want to take advantage of the convenient transportation and proximity to build a national television production building. This hotel is near several famous hospitals, so the architectural planning and design also takes into account medical conferences, professional nursing, and other related aspects. I guess that counts as planning."

Everyone could tell that all that flowery talk was just a way to find a theme: "Surrounding overseas people, foreign experts, and compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, should we highlight an international style or exotic charm?" This made Wei Dong dare to spout nonsense: "What exotic charm can we create? To foreigners, it's all just a half-baked imitation. It's like when we go abroad to see Chinatowns; they're not authentic. But Shanghai itself has very distinctive architecture. The new-style alleyways and old-style villas are beautiful. We could unify them into this style, but make them more spacious and grander. I personally suggest making them smaller blocks to facilitate future development."

The question that will naturally arise is why.

Wei Dong truly saw the future: "We have too many people and a large area. It's like the most beautiful places in Shanghai should be everywhere, but they all have to be concentrated on the Bund, and only a tiny bit at the entrance of the Bund. It's so crowded. As the saying goes, 'One flower does not make a spring, but a hundred flowers blooming make a garden full of spring.' Small neighborhoods don't have a center. Each area can develop evenly and find its own characteristics. Tokyo does this well, but Hong Kong is not so good."

This was an extremely rare viewpoint in the 1980s.

Everyone is eager to build a central building, with everything revolving around it. The Xishan Building was in this trend, but Wei Dong made the decision to use the surrounding small blocks to dilute its central position.

The surrounding four-star hotels, high-rise residential buildings, and commercial centers are all of similar size to this building, making it less conspicuous.

In fact, he subconsciously wanted to weaken the industrial status of Xishan Computer Building so as not to arouse suspicion from the foreigners.

The people from Shanghai listened to it for the time being.

Then they turned around and asked Wei Dong to explain what was behind these real estate properties.

Wei Dongcai was a little surprised. "Damn, I said I wouldn't get into real estate, but I've ended up doing so many different things in this industry."

However, it doesn't make much money; its purpose is mainly to solve employee accommodation and business expansion.

So when I talk about it, I don't feel guilty at all.

The construction cost, selling price, and revenue actually come from the commercial storefronts at the base of the building and the underground parking garage, which currently seems dispensable.

Especially the latter, if Wei Dong were to openly discuss with any department that all he might end up with is a piece of underground parking space, everyone would subconsciously ignore it.

How much is an underground parking garage worth, or how many cars can it accommodate?

In short, the impression is that he didn't make any money in the real estate business.

But they already have an abundance of experience.

Especially during this transitional phase when policies are not yet clear, they skillfully distinguish between land parcels and properties.

Wei Dong is definitely not qualified to participate in the real estate market in downtown Shanghai; there are too many capable people in this area.

But this suburban outskirts community with a foreign population could be a good place to try: "Could you organize a proposal for Shanghai to use as a reference?"

Given its massive size of over a million square meters, many county-level cities and prefecture-level cities don't even have an urban area this size right now.

The design fee alone would cost a lot of money.

How can you just casually say you'll make something and see how it goes?

Fortunately, Wei Dong, who had been working in the tax office for forty years and was also a part of the system, emphasized to Xu Rao and the Hong Kong businessmen that they should act in accordance with business principles.

They certainly wouldn't say you need to pay a deposit first, or have an agreement guaranteeing future use, right now.

I had no intention of doing this deal; I was just laying the groundwork to get Wei Dong to smile and agree.

The agreement was to get a rough plan before the Spring Festival.

Sure enough, they reciprocated on the spot, knowing that Wei Dong's Apple computer factory and supporting office buildings would also be delivered before the Spring Festival. The city would give its full support, prioritizing all aspects from labor to various supporting facilities, striving to make the products of this Apple factory a shining example of high-tech achievement.

Then, support will be provided for the allocation, transportation, and export customs declaration of these contract-manufactured products. They may even allocate a warehouse area and an independent small dock in the riverside dock area a few kilometers away.

In the era before highways were well-developed, this allowed for simple and direct transshipment along the river to the maritime terminal, ensuring the entire operation was efficient and convenient.

Of course, Wei Dong speculated that it was also possible that these state-owned warehouses and terminals were undergoing restructuring and needed a new model to drive their development.

On the surface, they would certainly express their gratitude.

Then, he casually mentioned the possibility of arranging for his domestic car production team to visit and learn from the Santana production line.

Unexpectedly, the group of people, who had almost finished their meeting and were all quite busy, looked at each other in surprise. Some even stood up and sat down again to face each other: "Describe from the beginning the project you are in charge of for the localization of auto parts?"

In fact, isn't the same dilemma that Santana is facing at this time exactly the same as that of Cherokee?
It's just that Shanghai is not as resistant to foreign businesses now, and Hans is more professional and focused than Citibank, so there aren't as many messy issues.

However, the current situation, where production and assembly are largely dependent on imported components, resulting in significant foreign exchange expenditures, is equally challenging.

Wei Dong happened to come up to him.

(End of this chapter)