Zhao Ye thought so, but he also knew that it was unrealistic to build such a landmark building all at once; he still needed to take it one step at a time.

High-rise buildings are fine as office headquarters, but they are not suitable for scientific research.

Most of the floors in these high-rise buildings are rented to other companies.

However, Lujiazui has a large area, which allows for the construction of some unique and unusual research buildings around the headquarters, such as Google's new campus Bayview, which resembles a tent; Apple's spaceship headquarters building; Amazon's Helix headquarters building (composed of three interconnected glass domes); Tencent's headquarters building, and so on...

Zhao Ye estimated that there are dozens of large research buildings alone, surrounding the Wujiang Building.

Of course, Lujiazui will be developed into Shanghai's international financial center in the future, so the number of commercial buildings is also indispensable, and the value of these commercial buildings will continue to soar in the future.

Therefore, the transformation of Lujiazui is definitely a highly profitable project.

Zhao Ye plans to use the land on the left side of Lujiazui, which will be used to build a research building, covering about a quarter of the land; and to use the land on the right side of Lujiazui, which faces the Bund's collection of international buildings, for commercial development, covering three-quarters of the land.

In the future, even if Wujiang Group fails to keep up with the times and lags behind others in technology, and even if many of its descendants are unworthy, it can still rely on rent collection in Lujiazui to ensure that its descendants will have no worries about food and clothing.

As the old saying goes, "If you love your child, you will plan for his future."

Fearing his descendants would squander the family fortune, Cheng Yu-tung invested hundreds of billions to build high-rise buildings for rental income.

Zhao Ye also needs to think about the long-term future of his descendants.

Of course, the transformation of Lujiazui is not something that can be accomplished overnight; it is divided into many phases.

After considering the options, Zhao Ye first identified several large-scale projects.

The first project is the Oriental Pearl Radio & TV Tower, a landmark building in Shanghai in its previous life, which must remain in Lujiazui.

The second project is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. To showcase the Wujiang Group's status, the Burj Khalifa was built as its headquarters. Standing 828 meters tall with 162 floors, the Burj Khalifa alone cost over $1 billion. If you include the internal shopping mall and surrounding artificial lakes and other supporting facilities, the total investment would be several billion dollars. Of course, if construction started now, given the strong purchasing power of the US dollar, it would probably only require around two billion dollars.

Because the Burj Khalifa is too tall, placing it in front would block the buildings behind it. Therefore, Zhao Ye plans to place it in the very center of Lujiazui.

Of course, back then, the Burj Khalifa wasn't called the Burj Khalifa anymore, but the Burj Khalifa!

The third project involves Wujiang Group's various research buildings, subdivided into areas such as the Internet, mobile communications, semiconductors, software, computer hardware, AI, aerospace, gaming, precision machining, optoelectronics and mechatronics, new energy and energy-efficient technologies, materials, healthcare, and biotechnology, among others.

There are some areas that Wujiang Group has not yet entered, but it will definitely enter them in the future.

In addition, after these buildings are completed, Zhao Ye will reorganize the companies under Wujiang Group and establish new subsidiaries.

The fourth project is to build the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, making it a beautiful landmark on the Huangpu River.

The fifth project is: [Wanjiang Yipin] luxury residences, which surpasses Tomson Riviera in scale, height and luxury.

Some of these luxury residences are for sale and rental, while others are used to attract top talent. Wouldn't those talents be moved if they were given a residence worth hundreds of millions?

The sixth project was the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. The reason for choosing it was that the project was scheduled to start in 1993, and Zhao Ye planned to take the lead in publishing the exterior design of the Petronas Twin Towers and registering a patent, so that other companies would not be able to use the design at that time.

The seventh project is the "Magic City Trio": Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai World Financial Center, and Shanghai Tower.

That's about it.

Priority is from top to bottom.

Zhao Ye briefly mentioned the specific blueprint to the leaders, saying that he would go back and draw up the plans, and then show them to the leaders after they were completed.

Secretary Liu and the others were utterly shocked.

Currently, there are almost no skyscrapers in Lujiazui. Zhao Ye is preparing to build the world's tallest building as soon as he arrives, and may even include the world's top three tallest buildings.

In the 1980s and 90s, leaders had a great fondness for skyscrapers, and every city was vying to claim the title of the tallest building.

Of course, the leaders' achievements also increased accordingly!

Many leaders believe that skyscrapers are the calling card of modern cities, increasing their attractiveness and serving as leverage for attracting investment. In the past, some places engaged in a blind competition to build the "first in the country" or even the "first in the world" skyscrapers, and the number of skyscrapers in China exceeded 800, which is four times the total number of skyscrapers in the United States.

Zhao Ye also wants to build skyscrapers, but the economic returns will be absolutely substantial; he'll be rolling in rent every year.

Given this situation, which official could refuse skyscrapers?

“Xiao Zhao, if you can build so many skyscrapers in Lujiazui, the government can give you more policy support, including huge low-interest loans, tax cuts, low-price land transfers, etc…” Mayor Zhou Bowen couldn’t help but say.

These words immediately won the agreement of the other officials.

In short, as long as Wujiang Group builds the world's tallest building in Lujiazui, the benefits will be enormous...

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!