Japanese LaLaport Retail Complex Coming To Taichung

Mitsui LaLaport (artist impression) C: Taichung City

Amidst efforts to fight the economic effects felt by the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan Mitsui Fudosan Group Chairman, Shitamachi Ichiro recently led a delegation to meet with Taichung City Mayor Lu Shiow-yen in central Taiwan.

In doing so, Mr. Shitamachi along with Mayor Lu jointly announced that plans for a Mitsui Outlet Park in Taichung that will include a Mitsui LaLaport shopping mall, have now been officially approved.

Construction at the site is expected to start by the end of the month, with the facility initially planned to open to the public in 2022 according to sources.

All of the necessary administrative processes between the city of Taichung and the Japanese business giant have now been finalised; discussions having been underway since March of last year.

In a press release issued by the Taichung City government, Japanese business investments are reported to be on the increase in and around the city, and Mitsui group optimism for the consumer market in Taichung is high.

When complete it is anticipated that the ‘Mitsui Taichung Outlet Park’ will create more than 3,500 jobs in Taiwan’s second largest city.

This will be Mitsui Fudosan’s second proposed LaLaport project in Taiwan, following a similar project in the Nangang area of east Taipei.

Mark Buckton

Mark is a journalism vet of 20 years with most of those years spent in Tokyo, Japan, as a columnist for The Japan Times and numerous other publications. His work has appeared on CNN, in the BBC, NPR, and in several dozen other media forms and publications across five continents.