Shanghai's most famous piece of real estate is getting bigger, spilling over to the west and jumping across the water to the north. The popular image of the Bund, the iconic row of historical buildings along the waterfront, will change forever with several projects scheduled for completion before Shanghai hosts the World Expo in 2010.
To some, the development is another step in the over-branding of the Bund, a marketing ploy to profit from the famous name. To others, the changes will restore the Bund to its role in the first half of the 20th century as the heart of Shanghai and an international centre of commerce.
The changes are steadily taking shape. The city just finished maintenance on the bell tower of the Customs House at number 13. Shanghai is considering plans to divert traffic on the Bund underground and enlarge the riverfront promenade, Chen Bo , deputy head of the foreign economic commission of Huangpu district, which administers the Bund, recently told a talk organised by Three on the Bund.
Two hotel projects - renovation of the ageing Peace and construction of the new Peninsula, which will mark the return of Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels to the Bund after decades - are generating excitement.
But although Shanghai has regulations banning the alteration of the exteriors of buildings on the Bund, the city lacks an overarching vision for developing the area, which has caused consternation among preservationists.
'In terms of the selling off - or leasing off - of the Bund, it's in various hands. What do you do with these buildings? How do you bring back that colour, that life? There certainly isn't a comprehensive plan,' said Peter Hibbard, historian and author of The Bund Shanghai.
Despite the exterior regulations, renovation of protected buildings ranges from the award-winning - such as restaurant and retail complex Bund 18, the former headquarters of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China - to a building described as 'covered in bathroom tiles'. Bund 18 brought in a Venetian architect to restore the neoclassical building and an Italian restoration artist to clean the stonework as part of a US$15 million renovation, earning it an award of distinction from a UN agency.