Page 36 - Forbes - Asia (July - August 2018)

FORBES ASIA
BES ENGINEERING

A Twisting

Tower

for Taipei

They wanted to bring some greenery to a city short
on trees, so a father-and-son team is building high-rise
apartments with lush gardens on every level.

BY RALPH JENNINGS

aipei teems with sparkly new sidering, ‘How should we do this? What can we
apartment towers, but one ritzy do to help society?’ ” he answer: Tao Zhu Yin
building headed for completion Yuan, the name of the Taipei tower. It translates
this year is naturally getting a to “the Hidden Garden of Tao Zhu.”
Tlot of attention. he unusual he Shens are hoping the environmentally
corkscrew-shaped structure allows for 23,000 friendly building will boost the fortunes of
trees and plants to grow on the expansive their listed BES Engineering, which the Taiwan
balconies, giving each of the 40 apartments a government started in 1950 and then priva-
woodsy private garden. tized in 1994, when the elder Shen purchased
he father-and-son team that runs Taipei- a large stake. Last year the company earned
based developer BES Engineering sprouted the $8.7 million on $322 million in revenue, higher
idea for the 21-story building as a way to bring than the year before but down sharply from
some greenery to the city of 2.7 million. Most 2015. But the share price has risen 57% since
residents live in high-rises, and the city is so late 2016 and topped its 2015 high in June. In
densely populated that few streets are tree- addition to a series of high-end buildings in
lined. Pocket parks provide what little green Taipei, the company boasts a large portfolio of
space there is, and they’re sometimes so small projects in China (see box, p. 36).
you can throw a ball from one end to the other. Ching-jing’s takeover of BES Engineering
he developers want to take Taiwan back to turned out to be controversial. In his 1998
when it was greener, says Eliot Shen, 40, project autobiography, Breakthrough: A Corpo-
manager for the building and a company direc- rate Warrior Who Challenges Fate—Shen
tor. When his father, Shen Ching-jing, 71, the Ching-jing, he said he had bought 80% of
parent company’s chairman, was growing up in the company’s shares in 1994. hat got the
the hills of Taiwan’s now largely industrialized attention of prosecutors, who charged him
Hsinchu County, “Taiwan had a simpler life, with forgery and violating securities laws in
and there wasn’t that much industrialization,” connection with the purchase, but he was
Eliot says. “So in the mountains, along the river, acquitted in 2000. he Shens won’t say how “Nature used to be your
nature used to be your main entertainment, much they own today, but it appears to be main entertainment, your
playmate”: Eliot Shen, a
your playmate.” he next generation had a lot less than 4%, a stake worth $16 million.
less of that nature and “so my father was con- Ching-jing declined Forbes Asia’s request BES Engineering director.

34 | FORBES ASIA JULY / AUGUST 2018