Through the hands of many big guys, the super project opposite Ben Thanh market is still "frozen"

10 years of ups and downs

Opposite Ben Thanh Market - the symbol of commerce in Ho Chi Minh City - is a project that is also expected to become a symbol, a new architectural highlight of the city of 10 million people. The office - commercial - service - apartment - 6-star hotel and hotel office project (Ben Thanh quadrangle) has the commercial name The Spirit of Saigon. The project has an extremely favorable location, with a frontage on 4 streets: Pham Ngu Lao - Calmette - Le Thi Hong Gam - Pho Duc Chinh, in the "center of the center" of District 1 and close to famous landmarks such as the Museum of Fine Arts, Ben Thanh station, 23/9 Park.

The project design consists of two towers connected by a podium and arranged far apart. The West Tower is 55 stories high, including office floors for rent in the lower half and a hotel in the upper half. The East Tower is 48 stories high, including apartments with services provided by the hotel through a connection between the podium and the basement.

The architectural highlight of the project lies in the two towers, which according to the investor Bitexco Group, are shaped like two dragons, the symbol of the Vietnamese people. The two dragons holding two pearls in their mouths represent new vitality and new development of the Vietnamese economy .

The Ben Thanh quadrangle project has a prime location opposite Ben Thanh market and Ben Thanh station (Photo: Kim Ngoc).

In 2013, Ho Chi Minh City approved Bitexco Group to invest in the above project with an area of ​​8,537m2. The project was then started by contractor Coteccons and is expected to be completed in 2017.

However, it was not until 2018 that the project completed the foundation piles and 6 basements and was accepted. According to Bitexco, this is the first project to build 6 basements and there are few projects in the world that build that many basements. Therefore, the project encountered unavoidable, complicated and prolonged difficulties, including both objective and subjective reasons, to complete the construction of 6 basements.

Around 2018-2019, the project had a temporary suspension of construction. During this time, the legal entity on the project certificate was changed from Bitexco Group (parent company) to Saigon Glory Company Limited (a 100% owned subsidiary of Bitexco Group). Bitexco later explained that the suspension of construction was to restructure from the parent company to the subsidiary, so it took time for state management agencies, banks, etc. to assess and carry out the processes and procedures according to the provisions of law.

At the end of 2019, the project was once again restarted by contractor Coteccons, constructing 10 floors of the project's base. The project is expected to be handed over within 10 months (August 2020).

In early 2020, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction issued a document confirming that 214 apartments in the project were eligible for sale or lease-purchase of future housing. However, Bitexco announced that these apartments had not been put up for sale (March 2020).

The investor also planned to start construction of the tower block from the end of 2020 and strive to complete the project in early 2023, although the deadline is allowed until 2024. However, up to now, the project has stopped construction for many months and there are no signs of restarting.

The appearance and departure of Masterise, Viva Land

In early 2021, the Masterise Homes nameplate suddenly appeared on the fence surrounding the project site. Along with that, contractor Newtecons also "replaced" Coteccons to build this super project, with the new name One Central HCM.

Some analysis reports from securities companies and market research units said that the project's apartments could be opened for sale in 2021 at a price of over VND500 million/m2, which is among the most expensive in Ho Chi Minh City at that time. Masterise Homes is also emerging at this time with its ownership of a series of luxury projects and famous brands in Ho Chi Minh City.

However, the project construction did not change significantly when Masterise Homes appeared. Even in early 2022, the name Masterise Homes disappeared from the signboard and the project stopped construction.

Project sign when Masterise Homes appeared (Photo taken in 2021: Kim Ngoc).

Another rising “star” is Viva Land (in the Van Thinh Phat Group ecosystem) was replaced on the fence, as the developer of the One Central HCM project. At that time, Viva Land introduced this project in the developing portfolio, with the new name Pearl.

A project developer is a business that signs a cooperation contract with a project investor to jointly implement that project. There are many ways to cooperate, from consulting to accompanying as a capital contributing partner. The developer will support the investor in raising capital, financial management, construction supervision, sales...

Normally, investors do not have enough potential to implement the project, especially limited capital, so they need project developers to support and help "revive" the project. However, there are also cases where investors and project developers cooperate to create good products suitable for the market, ensuring good liquidity thanks to the brand of a large company.

Just like Masterise Homes, Viva Land appeared on the market, causing surprise when continuously participating in famous projects in the "golden land" of the city, typically IFC One Tower was renamed Saigon One Tower - corner of Ton Duc Thang, Ham Nghi, Vo Van Kiet. After Viva Land appeared, the project continued to be constructed.

Project sign when Viva Land was the developer (Photo taken in 2022: Kim Ngoc).

However, in October 2022, the leaders of Van Thinh Phat Group were arrested and the project has been "inactive" since then. The Viva Land logo outside the fence surrounding the project was completely removed. Currently, the project is still introduced by the investor Saigon Glory as it was originally, without any additional project developers.

Saigon Glory "Health"

Saigon Glory was established in 2018 with a charter capital of VND7,000 billion. In 2018-2019, the company had no revenue and after-tax losses of VND3 billion and VND134 billion, respectively. At the end of 2019, the company's debt was 3 times its equity. Total liabilities were VND20,800 billion.

In 2020, Saigon Glory issued 10 bonds worth VND10,000 billion, with an interest rate of 11%/year in the first year. From the second year, the interest rate will not be lower than 11%/year, which is the reference interest rate of the interest calculation period (12-month savings interest rate for individual customers of Vietcombank ) plus 4.5%/year. These bonds mature in June-July 2023 and August 2025.

After all, Saigon Glory is still the project investor (Photo: Kim Ngoc).

In October 2022, after the "scandal" over the ability to pay bonds in the financial market related to the arrest of the leader of Van Thinh Phat Group, Saigon Glory committed to buy back all 10,000 billion VND of these bonds before maturity, in 2 phases. In phase 1, the company bought 5,000 billion VND of bonds before maturity no later than June 12, 2023 and in phase 2 no later than June 12, 2024.

Last April, Saigon Glory reported on the situation of principal and interest payments of bonds in 2022 to the Hanoi Stock Exchange. Accordingly, in 2022, the company had 40 interest payments for the 10 lots issued above, with a total payment of nearly VND 1,110 billion.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/bat-dong-san/qua-tay-nhieu-ong-lon-sieu-du-an-doi-dien-cho-ben-thanh-van-dung-hinh-20230504083112064.htm