China in property fever

China in property fever

BEIJING (Reuter): China's booming property market has offered a deal that city fathers in Hangzhou could not refuse -- the sale of City Hall itself.

Following fierce bidding, land-use rights to the prime lakeside site were sold to Chinese and Indonesian developers for US$1,228 a square meter, the official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday.

The size of the site and value of the sale were not disclosed.

A joint venture of Union Concepts Company of Indonesia and local Hangzhou Guangyu Real Estate Group said it would spend $10.5 million to build a commercial plaza on the site.

The old City Hall on one of the Zhejiang capital's busiest street corners will be demolished, the agency said.

"Construction of the plaza will begin after the municipal government moves to a new site in May 1995 and is expected to be completed in August 1998," Xinhua said.