The rapidly growing commercial building economy of Tianjin has lead to the formation of a unique, spectacular skyline. In recent years, Tianjin has sped up the pace of developing itself into an eco-city, an international port city as well as an economic center in North China.
In this context, high-rise buildings in the city have sprung up swiftly. On a 2011 list of China’s top cities in terms of skyscrapers, Tianjin, with 15 skyscrapers over 152 meters high, ranked seventh. Now 127 buildings over 100 meters are under construction in Tianjin. One of them, the Goldin Finance 117, will become the highest building of the city at a height of 597 meters.
The springing up of skyscrapers is gradu- ally forming an angular and stylish skyline in Tianjin. At present, there are more than 10 major skyline sights in the city, including Meijiang Exhibition Center, People’s Park and the Haihe River coastal areas.
“The beautiful skyline is the outcome of the fast growth of commercial building economy. We have taken concrete steps to promote the development of commercial building. And we are trying to build another 50 commercial buildings with tax revenue over 100 million and intro- duce more high-end modern service industry enterprises,” said Huang Guox- ing, mayor of Tianjin.
“Commercial building economy high- lights the charm,
vitality and strength of a city, and enables the city to accommodate more service industries. Develop- ing commercial building economy has become an indispensable element of forging Tianjin into an international port city and economic center,” said Wei Yongjiu, Party secretary and director of Tianjin small and medium-sized enterprise bureau. As a driver of the development of a service industry cluster, the commercial building economy gathers human resources, finance and information sectors together. Last year, the first batch of 94 key commercial build- ings attracted 2,200 enterprises, of which 40 are among the world’s 500 largest multina- tional companies.
Many renowned global enterprises have settled in Tianjin, including John Deere, Regus, Motorola and Mitsui Fudosan. The tax revenue of commercial building in Heping and Hexi districts made up half of their financial revenue in 2011. The registered capital of enterprises that have recently settled in the 10 key buildings in Hebei District accounts for 71 percent of the newly increased capital in the district, Wei said.
Tianjin will continue to develop its commercial building economy and attract more investment in order to catch up with that of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, where the Chinese headquarters of most Fortune 500 companies are settled. “We will also try to attract enterprises in second- and third-tier cities to settle their headquarters in Tianjin as it is very difficult for them to headquarter in Beijing. Tianjin, with its favorable conditions in terms of location, resources and transportation, has become a good alternative for them, ” Wei added.