Lotte Group signed a contract with a local company in Shenyang to sell its stake in Lotte Glory Properties Shenyang and the “Lotte Shenyang” project it carried out in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang, according to industry sources, on Apr. 25.
Initiated in 2008, the Lotte Shenyang project is a project that Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin has been passionate about.
Lotte’s vision encompassed Lotte Town, comprising a department store, theme park, residential units, and a hotel. Originally slated for completion in 2019, construction was abruptly halted in December 2016 in retaliation for China’s THAAD system.
Chinese authorities allowed construction to resume in April 2019, but Lotte delayed the resumption, and the outbreak of COVID-19 forced the company to shut down and sell the project. In the process, the Shenyang Lotte Department Store, which opened in May 2014, closed in April 2020, six years after opening.
Chinese authorities granted permission for the construction to resume in April 2019, yet Lotte opted to delay the recommencement. Subsequently, the outbreak of COVID-19 forced the company to shut down and sell the project. This led to the closure of the Shenyang Lotte Department Store in April 2020, which opened in May 2014.
Lotte had previously sought to sell the multi-complex project to a Chinese state-owned company early last year, but the deal reportedly fell through.
The conglomerate has had various businesses in China, but in retaliation for the THAAD, it sold all its Lotte Mart stores in China in 2018 and withdrew from food manufacturing in March 2019. Lotte’s only remaining retail store in China is Lotte Department Store Chengdu, which the company is also seeking to sell.
