Door opens to giant Hanoi apartment building

Cau Giay Investment Trading Services Joint Stock Company and its exclusive sale agency Savills Vietnam last week started selling 500 apartments at Discovery Complex which also has five-storey retail podium and 38-story office building.

With the investment capital at VND5,000 billion ($238 million), the Discovery Complex will offer more than 45,000 square metres of office space for lease, over  38,000 square metre of trading centre, 1,200 car parking lots and 4,000 motorbike parking lots.

According to Tran Duc Minh, chairman of Kinh Do TCI Group of which Cau Giay Service and Trading Investment is a member, the apartments were selling for  at least VND27 million ($1,285) per square metre (exclusive of value added tax).

“We have carefully considered this pricing level. Even though the market now is on downturn trend, I believe that our price will  catch  many customers,” said Minh.

John Gallander, director of Savills Hanoi, sales agent for the project, told VIR that apart from being the third highest building in Hanoi,    the Discovery Complex is the first ever complex in Vietnam which will be connected directly to the planned elevated railway of Hanoi.

“From my experiences in many other countries, both around the world and in Asia, the value of the property complex would be increased much when being connected with public transport facilities. Therefore I believe that buyers would get much benefit if they buy apartments from this project,” Gallander said.   

Property complexes connected with public transport system, he added, had been successfully developed in many other countries.

The 50-storey building of Discover Complex is the tallest apartment building in Vietnam, higher than two 48 storey towers at Keangnam Hanoi Landmark Tower. Meanwhile, the Lotte Centre Hanoi consists of a trading centre, serviced apartments and hotel rooms but has not got apartments for sale.

Discovery Complex has been begun construction since June 2010 and expected to be finished in the first quarter of 2016.