Ho Chi Minh City Rejects Empire City's Fee Appeal, Lotte Abandons $900M Project
Ho Chi Minh City authorities have rejected a petition from LLC to reconsider an additional land use fee of over VND8.8 trillion ($333.27 million). This decision comes amidst ongoing financial struggles for the project, which began in 2017 and has since delivered around 1,200 apartments. Meanwhile, Lotte Properties HCMC Co., Ltd. has terminated its $900 million Lotte Eco Smart City project in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area due to legal entanglements, including the issue of inflated land use fee obligation.
The project, awarded a 50-year lease in 2016, was to include residential towers, offices, and an observation tower. However, construction has largely stalled since 2019 due to financial liabilities. The additional fee, more than double the VND3.5 trillion ($132.55 million) paid in 2017, totals over VND12.3 trillion ($495.82 million). The LLC warned that the inflated obligation could push its liabilities into billions of U.S. dollars and risk international disputes.
The Lotte Eco Smart City project, an ambitious development planned by the Lotte Group, a South Korean conglomerate, aimed to create a large, sustainable urban district with residential, commercial, and recreational facilities. However, the project was unexpectedly abandoned in 2025, shocking the Vietnamese real estate industry and international investors. The project's termination followed a 2019 government inspection that found the land value for the 11.5-hectare Thu Thiem site had been underestimated, leading to the reassessment process that added over VND5 trillion ($189.4 million) to the original fee.
The HCMC Department of Finance confirmed the reassessment process complied with government regulations. Despite the rejection of LLC's petition, the project's future remains uncertain. The termination of the Lotte Eco Smart City project serves as a reminder of the challenges faced by international investors in Vietnam's real estate market.
