Still, RCCQ is the jewel in CapitaLand’s investment in the city, and indeed in China, which has been a key feature of the real estate developer’s growth plans over the past five years. During this period, the group had six major projects under development. It also built Raffles City Shenzhen; the LuOne Mall in Shanghai; and Suzhou Centre, which opened in November 2017 and is three times the size of ION Orchard.
SINGAPORE (Mar 1): Raffles City Chongqing (RCCQ), CapitaLand’s mammoth mixed-use development in China, rises up from the landing point that had, 1,000 years ago, welcomed emperors visiting the once far-flung corner of the Chinese empire. Today, Chaotianmen is part of the heaving and highly developed metropolis of Chongqing, arguably China’s most populous city that sits at the heart of Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative.
With eight skyscrapers that are 250m or 350m tall and the world’s highest skybridge sitting atop four of the curved towers, RCCQ has been dubbed an engineering marvel. It bears a resemblance to Singapore’s iconic Marina Bay Sands, which features a “ship” perched on top of three curved towers and had also been a challenge to construct. To be sure, the two developments share the same architect and engineering firm — Moshe Safdie and London-based Arup.
