Top Biz News
Property tycoon hunted by residents
By Xu Fan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-13 08:00
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Almost 500 property owners from Chaowai SOHO and SOHO Shangdu are jointly seeking compensation from Pan Shiyi, a "superstar" among Chinese developers, for allegedly failing to fulfill a promise.
Pan, followed by nearly 370,000 fans on his micro blog and recognized as the most entertaining developer in China for exaggerated comments, is also well known for his specific "SOHO commercial style".
However, Pan has been involved in numerous issues in recent months including that of Jianwai SOHO, one of Pan's landmark projects, which had its power switched off for owing huge electricity fees.
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About 20 property owners representing 500 others, wearing white clothes with slogans like: "Be careful of investing in Pan's properties" and "It's tragic that I bought Pan's apartments", broke into and protested at Chaoyang district's Nexus, a real estate property owned by Pan, for three consecutive days.
Guo Qing, a Shanxi coalmine owner in his 50s who bought a 1,000 sq m property in Chaowai SOHO, said he almost went bankrupt blindly trusting Pan's promise in 2006.
"Pan said he would keep 40 to 60 percent of apartments unsold and rent them out to large brands, which would lead to a flourishing market for us owners. The promotion encouraged many to buy his apartments," Guo said.
According to Guo and an investigation conducted by other owners, Pan actually sold all the apartments and failed to manage the buildings effectively.
"Different types of shops were allocated to the same floor, such as barbers and language schools." Guo said. He added that almost 50 percent of owners then wanted to sell their properties back at the original price, but failed even in the skyrocketing housing market.
Liu Li, a Beijing businesswoman who spent 2.2 million yuan to buy a 60 sq m apartment in Chaowai SOHO, was one such representative whose protest was stopped by local police yesterday.
Liu told METRO that SOHO had hired eight guards, twice the number of the previous day, to pretend to be injured and lie down on the floor.
"We don't know why the guards behaved like that. One of the guards said his leg was broken but we hadn't touched him. A check today by the medical staff proved his allegation was untrue," Liu said. "We just want to meet Pan face-to-face."
Xu Yang, vice-president of SOHO China, said they had already negotiated with the owners but refused to say more, the Beijing Times said.
