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Chongbang turns quiet nook of Shanghai into a refuge from the city's hustle and bustle
Meandering along the pedestrian boulevard that winds between buildings and glancing at department store shop windows, the glass  facade of a hotel, and a jumble of boutiques, cafes and restaurants, I am struck by a sense of familiarity.
I am home away from home in Zhabei, north of Shanghai's Suzhou Creek, and although I am  reminded of Hong Kong by the  mix of shops  among a cluster of commercial properties, there, too, is a sense  of Europe in the landscaped open space and al fresco dining areas.
Welcome to The Life Hub@Daning, conceived by Hong Kong developer Chongbang Group as a trendy, comfortable and affordable place for Shanghainese to shop, eat, play, work, live, entertain and pursue their cultural interests.
Stephen Wong Shung-sing, the president of Chongbang, was the guiding hand  from the conception  to the construction of the 55,000 square metre development  - the group's first  property project.
Mr Wong, an architect by training, described the project as an opportunity 'impossible to get in Hong Kong'.
'Land in Hong Kong is so expensive. It is impossible for a new company to have a site of this size to develop there,' he said.
'There was no way we could compete with the likes of Sun Hung Kai on building first-grade office towers and chase land at Nanjing Road with developers such as Hang Lung Properties. We had to find our niche.'
And so Chongbang chose to focus on commercial and entertainment projects.
The company had not pitched for the Zhabei project with the highest bid, Mr Wong said.  'About 20 developers submitted proposals and we were probably one of the lowest  bidders. But the government liked our concept and we worked closely together to make the project happen.'
The Life Hub has a gross floor area of about 250,000 square metres comprising 15  blocks, 11 piazzas and two kilometres of pedestrian walkways. The development houses a four-star hotel, offices, shops, restaurants and a cinema but no residential towers, as the developer thinks the  densely populated neighbourhood  provides a strong consumer base.
The complex has transformed the former industrial neighbourhood into a trendy commercial zone and a weekend destination for the community's one million residents.
Now, Chongbang is working on strategies to cast the net wider and lure Shanghai's middle class to the site. One such scheme is for a  credit card jointly issued with a bank.
A statement on the project plan presented to the Urban Land Institute 2007 Award of Excellence in the Asia-Pacific Region revealed why the district government was fond of the Life Hub concept.
'The developer established a fast-track construction process that aimed to complete the 1.9 billion yuan (HK$2.08 billion) project within the then-current government's term in office and thus effectively secured support from government officials to expedite the approval process,'  the statement said.
Chongbang's maiden project, the Life Hub, was one of the finalists in the award while Hong Kong's Wetland Park took the top prize.
US-trained Mr Wong was enthusiastic about introducing the urban planning concept he used to develop the complex, attributing its success to the right mix of retail outlets and the design theory it embraces.
'The concept is to provide  people  with whatever they need for their daily  lives by offering them a leisurely environment in contrast to the hustle and bustle of downtown Shanghai,' he said. 'The modern, high-, middle- and low-rise structures are built and arranged in the scale and proportion of a traditional Chinese commercial centre and so they present a new yet familiar cityscape.'
The idea sounds obvious today, five years after it was first conceived. But Mr Wong and his colleagues  had a difficult time getting it off the drawing board.
'It used to be an underserved area and it was nearly impossible to get a taxi after we finished work  on the site late in the evenings. The majority of tenants did not have a business presence  in the north of Suzhou Creek  at that time,' he said.
To find the right tenants, the team looked not only at those  enterprises already in Shanghai but went overseas to persuade companies to set up business in the complex. The South Korea-based  cinema at the complex is one example.
Mr Wong and his major business partner, Henry Cheng, the group's director and chief executive, were both veterans  in the  property business before they  established Chongbang in 2003.
Mr Wong  was a senior project manager at Sino Land in Hong Kong  while Mr Cheng had more than  10 years of investment and development experience in Shanghai.
Mr Cheng was heavily involved in Xintiandi, a Shanghai landmark created  by conserving old houses and turning the complex into entertainment, dinning and retail outlets.
Mr Wong said  he set up the company largely because of the growth opportunities and maturing investment climate  on the mainland  as well as financial support.
'We are committed to the China market and at the moment we are focusing on Shanghai,' he said. Hence, he made a bold decision. He moved his family to Shanghai.
The group is now working on two property projects.
One is to restore a group of garden villas  at Sinan Road and Fuxing Road and turn them into  luxury residential  flats and retail spaces. The area has a concentration of European-style houses built in the early 1900s, and Mr Wong said the goal was to make the restored villas synonymous with luxurious living in Shanghai.
Another project is a shopping and entertainment complex  at Pudong's Jinqiao Road, which has a large concentration of middles-class families and expatriates.
The development will be along similar lines to the Life Hub and the challenge  is to transform the area into an upmarket location attractive to expatriates.
Yet another challenge was to retain experienced staff and to continue adding value to the land they were developing, Mr Wong said.
'We don't want to sell to get quick cash. We want to see  the site becoming more valuable by  making the urban environment a better place,'  he said.



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