Lifestyle International Holdings, operator of the Sogo department stores, is buying a site in Shenyang for 1.02 billion yuan and plans to develop it into a department store, according to a source.
Hong Kong-listed Lifestyle won the 56,000 square metre Shenhe district site in a public auction, the source said yesterday.
This is the company's second site purchase this month and the planned store will be the first such mainland project it plans to develop and finance on its own.
Earlier this month, Lifestyle said it aimed to take a 50 per cent stake in a proposed US$100 million shopping centre and office project in Suzhou that it would jointly develop with the local government.
Lifestyle owns a 65 per cent operating right and a 50 per cent equity stake in Jiuguang store in Shanghai. The company's partner in Shanghai is the local government.
The company will finance the Shenyang project through internal resources and bank borrowings.
The gross floor area of the Shenyang store, scheduled to open in 2009, will be about 310,000 square metres, similar to Shanghai Jiuguang.