By KHT Staff. Image via Fubon Life.
KAOHSIUNG — The large complex rising beside Aozihdi MRT Station (凹子底站) is more than another high-rise. Fubon Life’s Aozihdi development is intended to turn a prominent but long-underused site in north Kaohsiung into a new commercial district.
The project, on the former Longhua Elementary School site near the junction of Boai 2nd Road and Dashun 1st Road, combines office space, a hotel, retail, restaurants, fitness facilities and an aquarium. It will connect directly with both Aozihdi Station on the MRT Red Line and Heart of Love River Station (愛河之心站) on the Circular Light Rail.
Fubon Life won the city land-lease project in 2018. Its plans call for a 48-story complex with six basement levels and a total floor area of roughly 150,000 ping, or almost 500,000 square meters. Fubon’s 2023 announcement confirmed that Hanshin Shopping Center would operate the department-store portion of the development.
The site includes a major office tower, a hotel tower and a lower commercial section. The main tower had risen above 200 meters by late 2025 and had reached its 45th floor, according to previous KHT reporting.
The project has often been described as a single building, but it is better understood as a large mixed-use complex. The eventual draw will not be just its height. It is the concentration of offices, shopping, hospitality and entertainment at a point where the city’s two rail systems meet.
Its largest public-facing component will be Hanshin’s planned third Kaohsiung store. Fubon said the mall would occupy roughly 45,000 ping of leased space, with parking for 2,500 cars and 5,000 scooters. It is also expected to include an aquarium and other entertainment facilities.
The project’s timeline has shifted over the years, as often happens with developments of this scale. Fubon’s earlier target was 2026, while recent reports have pointed to a later, staged opening for individual facilities, including a possible 2028 opening for the new Hanshin store. Fubon has not publicly announced a final, full opening date for the whole complex.
Nearby housing developments are now using the Fubon project as a selling point, and its eventual arrival will almost certainly change the area’s retail and office landscape. But it remains to be seen how quickly tenants, shoppers and hotel guests follow once the doors actually open.
Source: Liberty Times real-estate report
