A 38-floor building sitting on the shore of the beautiful Songhua River in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, has been mostly left unused since 2003, accumulating losses in hundreds of millions for Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's Heilongjiang branch.
The landmark building, named Rongfu Mansion, originally housed the 4-star Rongfu Conifer Hotel. According to ICBC, its Heilongjiang branch collected the building as collateral. Since 2003, only 10 floors have been rented out as offices.
Rongfu Mansion is located within a short drive from Harbin Railway Station and the Sun Island Scenic Area. It is also about a half-hour drive from Harbin Taiping International Airport. Despite the building's golden location, continued sales efforts including public auctions and negotiations with both domestic and foreign investors have been unsuccessful.
The building covers 37,000 square meters, and the hotel part contains 179 rooms. If the hotel had been able to maintain operation for the past eight years, one analysis puts the potential annual income at just below 20 million yuan (US$3.14 million), making the building's total loss so far for lack of use at well over 100 million yuan (US$15.68 million).
Due to neglect, the indoor provisions and decoration have deteriorated, driving down the building's value. ICBC's Heilongjiang branch is currently discussing possible solutions.
