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BES ENGINEERING

for an interview, but he has described himself as an “economic war- permits. he structure is
rior.” In 2002 he called Taiwan’s central government a “rascal” ater now completely built, but
industrial parks that his company had built for it were losing money amenities such as the swim-
and shareholders demanded a $545 million payback. He’s now ming pool won’t be inished
chairman of the Core Paciic Group, which counts BES Engineer- until the end of the year.
ing and Taiwan-listed China Petrochemical Development Corp. he company brought
as subsidiaries. he petrochemical irm landed him in another in Vincent Callebaut
skirmish in 2012. A group of shareholders tried to oust him as Architectures to design the
chairman, claiming he disregarded corporate governance standards 93.2-meter-high tower, and
and his iduciary duties. He eventually let his job as chairman for the project broke ground
health reasons, local media said in 2016. He stepped down as BES in 2013. he Paris-based
Engineering’s chairman in 2016. irm, known for oddly
Eliot went to engineering school at Lehigh University in shaped eco-friendly
Pennsylvania. He moved to China 16 years ago to help his father’s superstructures, is also
various businesses ater selling movie tickets and working for a spell designing a resort with
in the food and beverage sector. He doesn’t rule out taking over space-capsule-like rooms
more of his father’s work eventually. His keenness to try new things jutting into the ocean in The Hidden Garden of Tao Zhu will o er
helped seed plans for the Taipei project. he climate is tropical eight the Philippines and circular a garden for every apartment.
months of the year, so Taiwan can easily support such landscaping, wooden residential towers
he adds. surrounded by food-producing farms in New Delhi. Tao Zhu Yin
Buildings in Taiwan get hit by typhoons and earthquakes, so the Yuan has already earned a U.S. Green Building Council Leadership
windows are weatherproofed against severe winds, and the build- in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certiication for its
ers put expanded polystyrene blocks under the tower to handle a solar panels, recycled rainwater system and on-site composting. he
magnitude-7 temblor. he construction is expected to cost around structure and its landscaping are being built to absorb 130 tons of
$500 million, much more than a normal project of similar size. “We carbon dioxide a year.
don’t call ourselves developers,” Eliot says. “It’s not just putting up a he project its with the global trend of biophilic buildings,
building and then leaving.” meaning structures marked by an enormous amount of plantings,
In the inal week of May, cranes swung blocks of materials over an indoor waterfall or other features. In Singapore examples include
a muddy front lot to inish the project by September and begin the Parkroyal on Pickering hotel, with 15,000 square meters of
selling units as BES Engineering stafers paced the ground in hard plants embedded in the structure, and the School of the Arts, which
hats. Workers were racing particularly to get trees planted on the was built to let in the city’s breezes so students can sit outside.
still largely barren balconies so the company could start applying for he ats will probably sell to wealthy people from around Asia
who care about global warming or collect unusual properties, says
Erin Ting, an associate director at real estate services irm Savills
BUILDING A CITY Taiwan. he gardens on each balcony and the building’s central

IN CHINA Taipei location will be its main draws, she says. “he unique design,”
Ting says, “gives this project a good awareness not only in the local
luxury residential market but also the global market. his project
The man behind Taipei’s verdant, twisting residential tower will bring BES a very good record and reputation.”
comes from Taiwan, but he’s made his name largely in China. he developer may sell units by inviting speciic prospective
Eliot Shen’s biggest project there is a 3.3-square-kilometer buyers such as business owners, politicians and celebrities to see
tract in the city of Yangzhou, a high-tech hub northwest of the ats irst, says Jamie Chang, assistant research manager at
Shanghai. “We’re taking farmland and building a city,” says property-management irm JLL in Taipei. Eliot won’t comment
Shen, vice chairman and general manager of the project’s on that. For now, BES Engineering is asking prospective buyers
developer, Yangzhou Jinghua Cheng, and a resident of China to contact it for a inancial background check before viewing the
since 2002. He’s also invested in Anshan in northeastern apartments.
China, the Jiangsu Province county of Sihong, and Changshu, he apartments will be listed at roughly $60 million, a BES
part of the city of Suzhou near Shanghai. Engineering spokeswoman says, citing outside estimates. hat
The partially finished Yangzhou development began in would make them the most expensive apartments ever sold in
2004; there’s no oicial date for completing it. Apartment Taipei, but less than what luxury ats in Tokyo, Hong Kong,
towers of a few floors to more than 30 will line a landscaped Singapore and other major cities fetch. “he project may be
canal. The project will also include a boutique hotel, an eight- well-known by its aesthetic design, ecological characteristics CHRIS STOWERS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
level shopping mall, glassy oice buildings, schools and a and the price,” Chang says, but its proile will be lower because
lake, according to images and descriptions on the project’s the “residential market in Taiwan is not oten signiicant on the
website. It will cost $330 million. —R.J. international level.” F

36 | FORBES ASIA JULY / AUGUST 2018