Core Pacific City
| 京華城 | |
| Location | Songshan, Taipei, Taiwan |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 25°2′53″N 121°33′44″E / 25.04806°N 121.56222°E |
| Opening date | November 2001 |
| Closing date | 30 November 2019 |
| Floor area | 204,190 m2 |
| Floors | 19 |
| Parking | Yes |
| Public transit | Nanjing Sanmin MRT station |
Core Pacific City, also known as the Living Mall (Chinese: 京華城; pinyin: Jīnghuá chéng), was a shopping center in Songshan District, Taipei, Taiwan, that opened in 2001 and closed in 2019.
History
Core Pacific City was built in 2001. During its development and construction, it was touted as the world's first truly 24-hour mall and Asia's first "city within a city" complex.[1][2]
Before it opened, its management was fined by the Taipei City Government for failing fire safety inspections. Further fines were levied when the mall opened to the public without first obtaining an operating license.[3] In February 2002, a fire at the mall required the evacuation of 20,000 people. It was determined to be arson, and in July 2002, former Core Pacific official Lin Chang-cheng (林長成) was convicted of the crime, along with two others, Wang Lin-kwun (王林坤) and Lin Ching-chi (林清吉). Losses were estimated at NT$12 million.[4] The opening of Taipei 101's mall in 2003 was expected to affect the revenues of Core Pacific's tenants, though less severely than those at other malls, due to Core Pacific's lower price points.[5] In 2004, the mall's management company was cited by Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission for unfair trade practices relating to a gift certificate promotion campaign.[6]
In March 2018, the Core Pacific Group put up the shopping mall for auction with real estate broker Cushman & Wakefield. The auction opened to the public on 12 December 2018, with an initial price of NT$38 billion.[7]
Core Pacific City closed on 30 November 2019 and was subsequently demolished.[8] On its final day of operation, 100,000 people visited the mall.[9]
In August 2024, former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je was arrested in relation to corruption allegations surrounding the redevelopment of the land that Core Pacific had been situated on.[10] The property was impounded,[11] and in December, Ko was indicted on charges of bribery and corruption.[12] He was released on bail in September 2025.[13]
Architecture
Core Pacific City had a total floor space of 204,190 m2.[14] The structure was a complex of two buildings—an L-shaped building that contained specialty boutiques, connected to a sphere that housed the Mira Department Store. The complex consisted of 12 above-ground stories and 7 underground levels. Core Pacific's total, 19-story height was attributed to Taipei's extremely expensive land costs.[15]
The sphere, considered to be Core Pacific's most dominant and visible feature, was 11 stories tall and clad in granite imported from Finland, while the L-shaped portion featured granite from Spain.[16] The mall's architects were the Jerde Partnership and Artech, Inc.[17] Jerde won the 2002 Gold Nugget Special Award of Excellence at the Pacific Coast Builders Conference/Western Building Show for its work on the shopping complex.[18] The engineering firm Arup was also recognized in 2002 for its work on the mall with a Structural Engineering Association of California Award for Excellence.[19]
In popular culture
- The mall appeared on The Amazing Race 19 as the site of a Hazard task for the Vegas showgirls Kaylani & Lisa, where they had to perform an indoor bungee jump.
- In the 2003 video game SimCity 4, developed by Maxis, the mall is a landmark that players can choose to build in their cities.
References
- ^ Shopping Centers Today Deprecated link archived 23 October 2007 at archive.today
- ^ "Living Mall". Archived from the original on 12 September 2007. Retrieved 10 September 2007., [1]
- ^ Taipei Times – archives
- ^ [2], [3]
- ^ Shopping Centers Today Archived 20 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Core Pacific City Co., Ltd. committed an obviously unfair act sufficient to affect trading order in violation of the law by its incomplete disclosure of information concerning the use of and restrictions on gift certificate redemption in a promotional campaign". Archived from the original on 25 September 2006. Retrieved 10 September 2007.
- ^ DeAeth, Duncan (18 July 2018). "Taipei's Core Pacific City to be auctioned with starting price of US$1.24 billion". Taiwan News. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
- ^ Wu, Po-wei; Yeh, Joseph (28 November 2019). "Lights turned off at Core Pacific City mall after 18 years in Taipei". Central News Agency. Retrieved 1 December 2019. Republished as: "Tycoon says goodbye to Living Mall". Taipei Times. 30 November 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
- ^ Pan, Tzu-yu; Ko, Lin (30 November 2019). "Core Pacific City mall closes doors, attracting 100,000 people". Central News Agency. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
- ^ "Court rejects appeal of Ko's detention". Taipei Times. CNA. 13 January 2025. Retrieved 4 February 2025.
- ^ Chen Tsai-ling and Esme Yeh (6 October 2024). "Court approves impound request for Core Pacific site". Taipei Times. Retrieved 4 February 2025.
- ^ "TPP leader Ko Wen-je indicted on bribery, other corruption charges". focustaiwan.tw. 26 December 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2026.
- ^ "Ko Wen-je released on NT$70 million bail (update)". focustaiwan.tw. 8 September 2025. Retrieved 2 March 2026.
- ^ Taipei Shopping | iExplore.com Archived 21 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Shopping Centers Today Archived 19 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Taiwan retail complex is clad in Finnish granite. | Stone World (October, 2002)
- ^ Portfolio [ Corporate & Institutional ] Archived 15 December 2004 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Jerde : Awards Archived 17 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Structural Engineering Association of California Awards for excellence | Arup Archived 23 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine