VietNamnet Bridge - The battle for the "golden land", or prime real estate areas, in HCM City heated up recently after the Van Thinh Phat Group and a partner became the owner of a land plot located in an advantageous position in HCM City.

The right to develop the land plot on the quadrilateral area facing Nguyen Hue, Ho Tung Mau, Huynh Thuc Khang and Ngo Duc Ke streets, covering an area of 1.31 hectares, has fallen into the hands of Van Thinh Phat Group, which plans to build a luxury complex there.

In June 2016, the group asked for HCM City People’s Committee’s permission to build the complex with the height of no more than 40 stories. 

The building will be located opposite the The Reverie, a 6-star hotel also owned by Van Thinh Phat. Union Square, a shopping mall that Van Thinh Phat has bought from Vingroup, is located nearby.

The real estate group is aiming for the area around the Nguyen Hue walking street. It  has asked for the municipal authorities’ permission to conduct a study on the development of Bach Dang Tourism Port Park, which would cover the area from Ton Duc Thang Museum to Ham Nghi Boulevard.

In early August, Van Thinh Phat signed contracts with Pavilion Group and Genting Group on the development of Saigon Peninsula project in district 7. The project, covering an area of 118 hectares, has investment capital of $6 billion.

The strong recovery of the real estate market has prompted Van Thinh Phat and many other powerful real estate groups to take over attractive projects, especially those in the central area of the city. 

Novaland, for example, has bought a land plot from Sabeco on Hai Ba Trung street in district 1. Meanwhile, some sources said the golden land plot at 117-119 Nguyen Hue street, belonging to BIDV Bank, and left unused for many years, has been transferred to a real estate group.

One of the land plots that many foreign and domestic property groups lust for is the head office of the HCM City Lottery Company at No 23 Le Duan street.

Most recently, Trung Nam Group asked the city authorities permission to exploit the land plot within the VND10 trillion contract on settling floods caused by high tides.

However, an official said the authorities have not made a final decision on the land plot, because other investors have also sent word that they want to acquire the land.

Foreign investors have also joined the race for the golden land plots in advantageous positions. Singaporean Mapletree has bought Kumho Asiana located on the crossroads of Le Duan and Hai Ba Trung in a deal worth $107 million, the biggest deal so far this year.

Kim Chi