The next morning, Fang Bai and his father finished up at the shop, then went to the relevant department for land sales to inquire about the situation, planning to buy all 15 contiguous plots to build a shopping mall.
The 15 plots, connected, covered an area of 1050 square meters, which was large enough.
The director, hearing Fang Bai's words, was slightly surprised and invited them to his office to discuss.
Wen City was not short of wealthy people; that area had hundreds of planned land plots, with only the eastern section having poor sales, which was mainly due to their later pricing, significantly higher than before.
However, they believed that area had the best location, near the bus station and pier, so a higher price was normal.
Now, a businessman wanted to buy land to build a shopping mall, which was excellent news. A large shopping mall could accelerate urban development, and if it developed well, it would be beneficial to him, increasing his political achievements. So he happily said:
"Under normal circumstances, one household can purchase a maximum of three plots of land, and we don't restrict when you build houses, but we still hope they are built sooner rather than later, as vacant land affects urban planning.
If you purchase 15 plots at once to build a shopping mall, there is a government preferential price, but it must be invested in and built within three years, otherwise, our government will reclaim it at the original price without compensating for interest.
If it is used for other purposes, such as small workshops, we will not agree."
He did not explicitly state that all small workshops in that area would have to relocate in the future; this was the county's plan.
Fang Bai shook hands with the other party, gathering information, and what the other party said was largely true.
Last night, he and his parents estimated the investment cost.
The price of each plot varied slightly; the better the location, the higher the price, fluctuating around 5,000 yuan.
Buying 15 plots would cost over 70,000 yuan, covering an area of 1050 square meters. The land had no foundation yet. Building a house according to framework structure requirements was costly. For a single floor, if the ceiling height was 4.5 meters, the total cost for the rough structure and foundation alone would be around 250,000 yuan, much higher than self-built residential homes.
At this time, red bricks cost four to five fen each, while thirty years later they would cost a few mao each.
Steel bars were 1,500 yuan per ton, which was not cheap. Cement was also not cheap. All industrial products were not cheap, and most importantly, they were hard to buy.
Relatively speaking, labor costs were cheaper.
Building an electronics mall would definitely require decoration. Currently, funds were tight, so simple decoration would suffice. Adding the cost of shelves and construction costs, the total investment was estimated to be around 450,000 yuan, and including the land, it would exceed 500,000 yuan.
As for the second floor and above, Fang Bai planned to do that when he had more money.
In a few more years, when the time was right, the first floor could be a supermarket, the second floor could sell home appliances, the third and fourth floors could be for home furnishings, and the top floor could be an internet cafe.
Underground parking?
That would require digging deeper and more solid foundations, which was too expensive. It could even build an extra floor. Now, it was better to invest the money in more land, and besides, there were no surplus funds, and many places would require money later.
Fang Bai also knew that parking would become an issue for malls twenty years later, but he thought it would be more cost-effective to invest money in land for surface parking rather than underground parking. He planned to sell this mall in ten to twenty years, when it was most valuable.
If he truly wasn't short of money by then, keeping it wouldn't matter.
In addition, his parents now needed time to accumulate business experience and build connections.
Anyway, it was about buying more land, but without affecting future investment plans.
Fang Bai's goal was still Shanghai, but his current capital and strength did not allow him to purchase land there, as the government's requirements for attracting investment were quite high.
"Oh, Director, how much is the discount? This is also considered a large investment and construction. As long as a large shopping mall is built, it can drive the local market, making it more prosperous, and the surrounding land will appreciate faster," Fang Bai asked.
"95% off. This is stipulated in the documents and cannot be reduced further," Mo Yang replied with a smile.
He noticed that when this father and son came to buy land, it was the young man who was leading, while the elder seemed to be there to learn, which confused him a bit.
According to the other party's statement, the investment scale was estimated to be in the millions, which was a considerable investment.
However, he couldn't see that Fang Bai and his father had this strength; they had no car or 'big brother' phone. Were they too low-key?
Fang Bai thought for a moment and said, "Understood, then let's settle on that. We'll go back and get the money. If we have difficulty procuring materials, we hope the director can help facilitate it."
"Okay, no problem."
"Then we'll see you later." Fang Bai shook his hand again.
He had his eye on that plot of land and knew its future development. There was a large parking lot nearby, and the open space in front of his shop was also wide enough.
The 95% discount meant it would cost 71,200 yuan, saving him three to four thousand yuan, which he was satisfied with.
The handling fee was not high, but if he had to pay land deed tax later, the tax rate was 1.5%. Fang Bai didn't know how this was calculated.
Time was precious now, there was no need to waste it. He needed to get things done quickly and open the mall as soon as possible.
After deciding to purchase, Fang Bai and his father rode their motorcycle home to get the money.
That morning, the father and son finalized the land deal, though the subsequent paperwork would take a few more days to complete.
Fang Bai understood the current processing speed of these departments; this was already considered efficient.
After completing this matter, Fang Bai discovered he had gained another connection.
It truly was a pleasant surprise.
Thus, Fang Bai now had 7 connections.
Over the next two to three days, Fang Bai went to the construction unit to find an architect to design the building, while his father went to find a construction team and buy bricks, cement, and steel bars.
Since the mall's ceiling would need to accommodate fire pipes, sprinkler pipes, ventilation ducts, cable trays, etc., the floor height needed to be at least 4.5 meters, and 5 meters or more would be better.
For instance, in later generations, the first floor of Wangfujing Department Store had a ceiling height of no less than 5.2 meters, and other floors no less than 4.8 meters, with some malls even reaching 6 meters in height.
How high to build depended on what goods were being sold.
Making it too high would increase the cost.
Fang Bai believed that with limited funds currently, 5 meters would be sufficient for selling home appliances. Things like spray-painted pipes and ventilation ducts were not being considered for now; having fire extinguishers in the next few years would be good enough.
Of course, considering the large number of customers, the building's strength and quality must be guaranteed, meaning a strong reinforced concrete foundation must be laid, the column rebars should be thicker and more numerous, the cross-section large enough, and special attention paid to large beam spans. In short, more reinforced concrete columns should be poured, and the floor slab should be 15 cm with double-layer rebar. This was for future consideration of building four or five floors.
Calculating this, it might exceed the budget.
When Fang Bai's parents returned home that evening and heard their son's ideas for building the mall, they felt he was spending money recklessly.
"Son, is it really necessary to do all this? Such high ceilings, isn't that too much money?"
"Yes, how much money will that cost? You could build two buildings!"
"Spending a bit more money is unavoidable. A unit area will hold a lot of things, and if the building collapses, our family will truly be finished," Fang Bai reminded them.
Normal residential buildings with 10-12 cm single-layer reinforced concrete slabs can bear 150 kg per square meter. With his requirements, even if civilian standard cement grades were used, the slab strength would be several times greater.
Once built, there would be no need for future renovations, and it would remain usable for decades without becoming obsolete.
Hearing his son speak so seriously, Fang Bai's parents had no further objections.
They could have less money, but they couldn't have an accident.
Besides, it was their own building, so building it well was fine. Just as their son said, it would be usable for decades without issue.
Unlike the buildings in their hometown now, many had problems just a few years after being built, with cracks in the slabs and walls, and sinking foundations. It felt like they would be lucky to last twenty years, and then they'd have to rebuild.
"Dad, how is the construction team you found? They must understand construction blueprints; they can't just do things haphazardly. We're spending money, and we can't have the finished product not meet the design requirements." Fang Bai was very worried about building the house. It was very difficult to find a capable and experienced construction team in those days.
When construction began, he would have to supervise frequently.
He understood architectural blueprints because he had watched many house-building videos in his previous life, but he couldn't understand overly complex ones.
However, the designers at the design unit praised Fang Bai's creativity for the house design and decoration requirements he proposed.
Fang Shi said, "It's hard to find. Either they are too small in scale, or they are currently busy and can't spare time. I only found one larger team, a group of thirty to forty people. I've asked the foreman to come tomorrow so we can discuss it and see if they can meet your requirements."
"Then we'll see how they are when we meet tomorrow," Fang Bai nodded and said.