By YANG Bingke
Nearly three years after a high-profile land grab in Hangzhou, Ant Group has spent again.
On October 19, Hangzhou released two commercial land parcels. One, to the east of Ant Group's current headquarters, was acquired by Ant for 1.54 billion yuan (US210 million), a floor price of 11,344 yuan per square meter.
The plot comes with strict requirements for access, investment and construction. In addition to requiring the project to be a headquarters, it also requires that a company with annual revenue over 1 billion yuan must move in.
Within five years of purchase, the buyer must invest more than 3 billion yuan. Average annual tax revenue must exceed 10,000 yuan per square meter and no less than 3 billion yuan is to be spent on R&D.
Before the plot was put up for auction the goal was to attract globally renowned fintech companies, with 5 billion yuan to spend: basically a custom plot intended for tech giants.
The plan encourages the development of underground space and encourages connectivity with surrounding plots - Ant Group's headquarters, for example, is just a stone's throw away.
In September 2020, Ant Group spent 2.7 billion yuan on a construction area of 519,500 square meters. The following year, the group acquired another parcel for 1.3 billion yuan. Including this latest acquisition, total spending on land has reached 5.55 billion yuan.
It is worth noting that construction has not begun on the two plots acquired in 2020. In May, Chairman Eric Jing said he would “accelerate” the construction of the global headquarters. In July, Xihu District listed the nonexistent HQ as a key breakthrough project for 2023.
