The Beginning of Kaohsiung's Dream Era/ 開啟高雄的夢時代
◎By Jessica Lin ◎Photos by Chung-hui Pao
On 30th March 2007, Kaohsiung Multi-Functional Commerce & Trade Park was given an exciting new face, a beautiful structure inspired by the concept of a blue whale swimming through the city; on its top sits a Technicolor, illuminated ferris wheel that radiates dreamy rays of light. This is the newly opened "Dream Mall", the largest shopping mall in South East Asia.
The square measure of the Dream Mall building is over 49,587 square meters. The square measure of the floors total more than 396,696 square meters. The Uni-President Group invested in Dream Mall, in cooperation with Kaohsiung City Government's "Multi-Functional Commerce & Trade Park Development Project". The amount the Uni-President Group plans to invest in this "Dream Mall Special District" is 30 billion NT dollars. Phase One of the investment was 18.5 billions.
Dream Mall serves many diverse functions: shopping, dinning and leisure pursuits. So far there are 500 stores stationed in Dream Mall. It not only includes large Japanese and British department stores, but also has a gym, restaurants and a large bookstore. It also provides display space for cultural content from the National Palace Museum, Chi Mei Museum and Pi Li Hand Puppet Shows. In addition, Dream Mall has in-door and out-door activity spaces to meet various types of exhibitions and conferences needs.
The most eye-catching feature of Dream Mall is certainly the technicolor Ferris wheels situated on top of the blue-whale inspired building.
The elevation of the wheel is 102.5 meters. Visitors can take a ride on the wheel during the day time and enjoy the beautiful views, taking in the unique mountains, as well as the sea, the river, the port and the city of Kaohsiung itself. At night the wheel has ten different lighting themes: water, flowers, fireworks, breezes, snow, rainbows, spring, summer, autumn and winter. This beautiful illuminated show creates a romantic and dreamy atmosphere, which has made it a new landmark in Kaohsiung.
With regard to the whole development of Kaohsiung City, Dream Mall not only enhances the citizens' quality of life, its all-new style of shopping, will also make a commercial impact on southern Taiwan, and on the whole of Taiwan's consumer market. It will attract tourists from Asia and all over the world, bringing huge business opportunities and, in the meantime, it will create 7,800 employment opportunities. It will thus rapidly stimulate and promote the economic prosperity of Kaohsiung City.
In addition, the Kaohsiung City Government and the Uni-President Group, worked together and constructed the Shihdai Boulevard, which is 950 meters in length and 100 meter in breadth. Shihdai Boulevard not only creates a beautiful view like Avenue des Champs Elysees in Paris, it will also divert the traffic from Jhongshan Road to Dream Mall. Nearby is the Jhonghua 5th Road and Chenggong 2nd Road; the former is planned by the council to be the "E Rapid Track southern Taiwan, and on the whole of Taiwan's consumer market. It will attract tourists from Asia and all over the world, bringing huge business opportunities and, in the meantime, it will create 7,800 employment opportunities. It will thus rapidly stimulate and promote the economic prosperity of Kaohsiung City.
In addition, the Kaohsiung City Government and the Uni-President Group, worked together and constructed the Shihdai Boulevard, which is 950 meters in length and 100 meter in breadth. Shihdai Boulevard not only creates a beautiful view like Avenue des Champs Elysees in Paris, it will also divert the traffic from Jhongshan Road to Dream Mall. Nearby is the Jhonghua 5th Road and Chenggong 2nd Road; the former is planned by the council to be the "E Rapid Track southern Taiwan, and on the whole of Taiwan's consumer market. It will attract tourists from Asia and all over the world, bringing huge business opportunities and, in the meantime, it will create 7,800 employment opportunities. It will thus rapidly stimulate and promote the economic prosperity of Kaohsiung City.
In addition, the Kaohsiung City Government and the Uni-President Group, worked together and constructed the Shihdai Boulevard, which is 950 meters in length and 100 meter in breadth. Shihdai Boulevard not only creates a beautiful view like Avenue des Champs Elysees in Paris, it will also divert the traffic from Jhongshan Road to Dream Mall. Nearby is the Jhonghua 5th Road and Chenggong 2nd Road; the former is planned by the council to be the "E Rapid Track for Kaohsiung World Games", while the latter is to be the C5 sration of these roads will lead straight to the Port of Kaohsiung.
◎文／林昀熹 ◎攝影／鮑忠暉
2007年3月30日，高雄市經貿園區有了令人興奮的樣貌：藍鯨般的建築悠遊在寬闊的城市空間中，七彩摩天輪在藍鯨上方散發夢幻耀眼的光芒，這就是甫開幕、東南亞最大的購物中心──夢時代購物中心(Dream Mall)。
總面積高達1萬5千多坪、總樓層面積超過12萬坪的夢時代購物中心，是統一企業集團配合高雄市政府「多功能經貿園區開發計畫」而進行的投資。統一集團在夢時代特區整體總投資金額為300億元，第一期已投資185億元開發「夢時代購物中心」。
夢時代購物中心結合了購物、餐飲及休閒娛樂等多元功能，目前已有500家廠商進駐，不但有日系、英系等多家百貨公司，還有健身中心、餐廳、大型書店，甚至還有故宮、奇美博物館、霹靂布袋戲等文化產品展示空間，並規劃有多處室內外表演活動區域，可因應各種大小型態的展演活動及會議舉行。
夢時代最引人注目的，當然就是藍鯨主題建築上方的七彩摩天輪，標高102.5米摩天輪，在白天搭乘可飽覽高雄獨一無二的山、海、河、港及城市景觀，夜晚更以10種燈光變化（水、花、煙火、風、冰雪、彩虹、春、夏、秋、冬），營造幸福夢幻的浪漫感受，成為高雄的新地標。
對於高雄市整體發展而言，夢時代不僅便利了市民的生活，全新的購物模式也將影響南台灣、甚至全台灣消費市場，吸引亞洲與世界各地的觀光客慕名前來，不但帶來龐大的商機，同時提供7800個就業機會，可望迅速帶動高雄的經濟榮景。
另外，高雄市政府也與統一集團，共同打造一條百米園道─時代大道，「時代大道」長約950公尺，寬100公尺，不僅為夢時代特區營造香榭大道般的優美景觀，更可引導中山路車流進入夢時代；而周邊的中華五路、成功二路，也分別是市府規劃的「高雄世運e 快道路」，及「捷運輕軌路線C5站」，這些主要道路串連起來，未來將直達高雄港，構築成對內對外、四通八達的交通網絡。
夢時代所座落的多功能經貿園區，一旁還有市府積極規劃的軟體園區、世貿會展中心、中鋼企業總部等，加上IKEA、家樂福、COSTCO等商場，形成優質繁榮的經貿生活圈。
高雄不但藉由夢時代的開發案展現了驚人的發展能量，更開啟了高雄未來七彩繽紛的「夢時代」！