"It's actually quite difficult for us this year." said Sun Mengjia, the person in charge of Chuangxiang Tower Park and the vice president of Shanghai Jihua Creative Industry Co., Ltd.
The "Chuangxiang Tower" on the Suzhou River is one of the typical cases of urban renewal activating the waterfront economy. Its predecessor was a factory with a watchtower designed in 1918. During World War II, it was a Japanese military uniform sewing base. After liberation, it was used as a munitions factory and warehouse. At the end of 2016, it was transformed into a cultural and creative park with a focus on cultural consumption.
has unique investment policies, high-quality affordable catering, and young businesses. The "Chuangxiang Tower" has always had a good reputation on social platforms, and was well received by experts in the "One River and One River" (Huangpu River and Suzhou River) planning seminar.
What operational difficulties does a high-quality commercial complex space based on the needs of the surrounding community encounter?
New consumption spaces around it have caused pressure, and it is difficult to repay the cost of park renovation.
Urban renewal is "proliferating", and rebuilt commercial spaces have appeared near the "Creation Tower", causing pressure. 's "Xuhuili" to be opened in 2021 and "Hongshoufang" to be opened in 2023 are based on "trendy" life and focus on community needs; they integrate high-quality catering, night shopping, trendy entertainment and cutting-edge life facilities, and are close to the subway station location advantage. Researchers from The Paper Research Institute observed that several restaurants in the "Chuangxiang Tower" have moved to new commercial complexes, but some old stores "remain".
Later, with the "consumption downgrade", the unit price of commercial stores also generally shrank. "In the past, the price per customer was 60 to 80 yuan, but now it has been reduced to 30 to 40 yuan, which is similar to takeout." Sun Mengjia said.
From the perspective of office space, the space separation of the "Chuangxiang Tower" during the original renovation was relatively small. Most of the office units are around 100 square meters, and there is a lack of space of 200 square meters and above. It is inconvenient to accommodate more employees, and more Resilient small and medium-sized companies, and more convenient for "small and micro enterprises" and even "micro and micro enterprises". 's "24-hour office" at Chuangxiang Tower is different from wework, "24-hour self-study room" and other models. Its service targets are mainly "micro-enterprises" such as handicraft workshops and studios, as well as small foreign trade companies that need to face time differences. For enterprises and live broadcasts, the rental time can be shorter, and it is more convenient to move in and check out.
33studio is a new tufting store that has settled in Chuangxiang Tower and occupies two commercial units. And more potential settlers may prefer office units with cheaper rents. Zhao Mintu
Sun Mengjia mentioned that 200 million yuan was spent on the renovation of the park in 2016. At that time, it was expected that the average annual revenue would reach 90 million yuan, and the capital could be recovered in about 5 to 6 years. However, due to the current vacancy rate of office units reaching 40%, commercial The profits are not as good as originally planned. The annual revenue is only about 60 million, and it will take about 15 to 17 years to recover the capital.
The nighttime economy is active, but it has been criticized for disturbing the residents. Development
is community-oriented and consumer-led. This is the "magic weapon" for "Chuangxiang Tower" to be well-received and have a good flow of people for a long time. However, it is located in a crowded community and is always complained about. "Disturbing people" is also the reason why it is difficult for it to catch up with new consumption concepts and try new practices.
Chuangxiang Tower is a good place for residents of surrounding communities to eat and watch football in the evening.
The European Cup recently started. Due to the time difference and many high-quality games only started after 3:00, fans became the target of complaints. Sun Mengjia also understood this. Now, the large screens and seats are mainly located in the alley near the Suzhou River in Building 1, far away from the residential buildings. Another option is to have all fans and late-night diners sit indoors.
Some complaints have had a very big impact on "Chuangxiang Tower"'s attempt to create a new economy. The rooftop platform is open to the public. Guests can climb up here to overlook the Suzhou River, drink wine, and listen to music. It is very comfortable. Some musicians even contacted the management and offered to perform on it, hold a small concert, or pair it with catering. However, some residents "will call 12345 to complain as soon as they see it", and the platform cannot be fully utilized at night.
“We are originally on the river, which is very suitable for cultural performances, and cultural tourism has been a very worthy development direction in recent years, but it has been difficult to develop because of complaints of ‘nuisance to residents’.We also hope that policies can provide a certain degree of flexibility. " Sun Mengjia suggested.
The community is aging and consumption vitality is insufficient.
"Chuangxiang Tower" organizes markets with different themes such as national style markets and summer beer night markets every month to activate consumption vitality and strengthen IP. Sun Mengjia hopes that will host More youth-oriented activities, such as cosplay markets, add more "two-dimensional" elements.
But for community-based businesses, there are also risks in "rejuvenation". The current public opinion trend is not friendly to individual clothing, and cosplay markets. Placing it in an aging community may attract people of different age groups to participate, but it may also lead to complaints from the elderly about "disturbing the public" or "young people dressing up in fancy clothes that are immoral."
"The problem in Shanghai is the aging population." It’s so serious. Every time I go to Hangzhou to visit my daughter who is in school, I can see many children in commercial spaces, specially opened children’s areas, and many pregnant women. " The lack of young people will also cause the overall consumption style to be conservative, making it difficult to make new attempts.
The "silver economy" of commercial development in aging communities will also face problems. Yao Jiahui, who is responsible for investment promotion and activities, mentioned, "Creation "Xiangta" will attract many elderly women to check in in groups in the afternoon, buy a cup of coffee and chat, but "they sit there all afternoon", the table turnover rate is obviously lower than that of ordinary customers, and the actual consumption power is even lower. .
But Sun Mengjia also mentioned that the pensions of the elderly in Shanghai are high, "even higher than the wages of many young people", and many of them do not have mortgage pressure, and there is indeed some consumption potential that has not been developed
For example, the elderly have skewed schedules. In the morning, 7:00 to 9:00 can tap into the golden period of the "silver economy". Sun Mengjia also thought of using the rooftop platform to carry out activities in the morning, setting up photography classes (especially taking pictures of birds in Baocheng Bay) and traditional Chinese painting classes. etc. Staggering the active time and space of the elderly and young people can also reduce the "nuisance" conflicts among young people.
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