GALAXY Group and Costco purchased a land parcel, a combination of commercial land and Class II residential land in Longhua District, at the base price of 2.23 billion yuan (US$345 million) Saturday, Shenzhen Economic Daily reported.

Costco is expected to open its first South China store on the land.

The A817-0613 land was listed for sale Saturday at Shenzhen Exchange Group Co. The land is located northwest of the intersection of Xinqu Boulevard and Renmin Road in Minzhi Subdistrict. The land area is 43,928 square meters, and the total construction area is 200,330 square meters.

Costco and Galaxy Group will jointly push ahead with the Longhua Super Commercial Center Headquarters Project, an international complex that brings together international hotels, fine dining restaurants and other service facilities.

As the world’s third-largest retailer, the 33rd on the 2020 Fortune 500 rankings and the 14th largest U.S. multinational corporation, Costco will set up its South China headquarters and its first flagship store in Longhua, which will attract over 1,000 upstream and downstream firms from all over the world to Shenzhen, the Daily report said.

The Super Headquarters project in Longhua indicates that foreign retailers such as Costco have a great interest in China’s market, and Shenzhen’s sincerity and determination to open up and attract foreign investments.

The project is significant to Shenzhen’s transformation into an international consumption center, the Daily report said. It will also accelerate the creation of high-end business projects in Shenzhen.

(Xia Yuanjie)