Taichung breaks ground for shopping complex – Taipei Times

The Taichung City Government yesterday held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new shopping complex scheduled to open near the Taichung High-Speed Rail (HSR) Station in 2026.

The NT$26 billion (US$801.23 million), 15 hectare project would include the nation’s largest shopping mall, as well as movie theaters, a five-star luxury hotel and Class A office buildings, the city government said.

The project is promising, but might cause traffic issues, Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) said at the ceremony.

Taichung would work with the Railway Bureau and Di Yi Da International Development Co, the company in charge of the project, to address these issues, Lu said.

The city government is seeking the central government’s support to build a highway interchange nearby to help solve potential traffic congestion issues, Lu said.

Di Yi Da chairman Eiichi Harashima said that over the past year he has assembled several designers from Taiwan and abroad for the project.

The shopping mall is expected to create 18,000 jobs and boost the local economy, Harashima said.

Di Yi Da signed a contract with the Railway Bureau in 2021 to invest NT$26 billion to build and operate the D-ONE Di Yi Da shopping complex.

The site of the development was chosen as it is near the Taichung HSR Station, which links to the railway and MRT systems, and is near several highways, the city government said.