• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Brunei
  • Cambodia
  • Indonesia
  • Laos
  • Malaysia
  • Myanmar
  • Philippines
  • Singapore
  • Thailand
  • Vietnam

Future Southeast Asia

Transport and urban development in Southeast Asia.

  • Newsletter
  • Aviation
  • Bridges
  • Construction Updates
  • Future Cities
  • Railways
  • Urban Rail Transit

Empire City – The future landmark development of Ho Chi Minh City

September 12, 2019 By James Clark Leave a Comment

Empire City - Ho Chi Minh City

Empire City is a major property development in District 2, Ho Chi Minh City. The project is located on one of the prime riverfront subdivisions of the Thu Thiem new urban area.

The Empire City development covers 14.56 hectares and it will include over 3000 apartments, hotels, retail, food and beverage, and Grade A office space.

The project features the Empire 88 Tower by Büro Ole Scheeren. At 333 metres it’s the tallest proposed tower in Thu Thiem, and it will be a defining landmark of the city skyline.

Empire City by Büro Ole Scheeren

Empire City is being built in sections by different developers, and the first stage is under construction.

Empire City Location


[Map of Empire City in District 2, Ho Chi Minh City.]

Empire City is the Zone 2B development lot of the Thu Thiem new urban area. The land is on the riverfront of the Saigon River in District 2, opposite District 4. It’s next to the Thu Thiem Tunnel and Mai Chi Tho Street.

Empire City location map

The project is located between land reserved for Eco Smart City by Lotte (Zone 2A), and the future sports and entertainment complex (Zone 2C). Empire City is separated from the Eco Smart City by a park that is above the tunnel.

The riverfront will be a public park and not blocked by the development.

Empire City Projects

Empire City Thu Thiem

There are 11 sub-divisions that have the project reference “MU”. Not all of the information is available yet so I will update this when it becomes available.

Empire City By Ole Scheeren © Buro-OS MU1 MU2 MU3

Empire City terraced base.

The signature tower of Empire City is the Empire 88 Tower. This will be connected to two other towers on a podium that resembles rice terraces. The towers include:

– Empire 88 Tower (MU1): 333 metres, 88 floors above ground.
– Office Tower (MU2): 165 metres, 36 floors above ground.
– Residential Tower (MU3): 124 metres, 34 floors above ground.

This section is designed by the acclaimed German architect, Ole Scheeren. This “starchitect” designed the MahaNakhon Tower in Bangkok, which has since been featured in major news sites around the world for its unusual design.

View this post on Instagram

A portrait of Ole Scheeren in front of the Guardian Art Center as featured in the WSJ Magazine. . . . #GuardianArtCenter #Beijing #AuctionHouse #WSJ #WallStreetJournal #OleScheeren #BuroOleScheeren

A post shared by Buro Ole Scheeren (@buroolescheeren) on Jun 27, 2018 at 4:49am PDT

The Empire 88 Tower has the potential to become an iconic symbol of the city, and something that people travel to especially to visit. Consider how many people put on their “bucket list” to swim at the infinity pool at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. If these skypods go viral like the Golden Bridge in Danang it would be a great boost for tourism in Ho Chi Minh City.

Empire City skypods

Empire City cross section

Empire City sky garden

Empire City Waterfall

Linden Residences MU4

Phase 1: Linden Residences.

MU5 MU6

Tilia Residences MU7

Phase 2: Tilia Residences.

Narra Residences MU8

Narra Residences MU8

MU9 MU10

Empire City MU9 and MU10

Cove Residences MU11

Empire City Cove Residences

Empire City - The Cove Residence Pool

Model of Cove Residences

Developers

Empire City is a joint venture project by the following developers:

Keppel Land Ltd (Singapore)

Website: keppelland.com.vn

Tien Phuoc Real Estate JSC

Website: tienphuoc.com

Gaw Capital Partners (Hong Kong)

Website: gawcapital.com

Tran Thai Lands Co., Ltd

Website: tranthai.com

Public Transport

The Thu Thiem peninsula and East Ho Chi Minh City (districts east of the Saigon River) is not as developed as the old city centre. Roads are still being built, and new bridges and railways are planned. If you are going to buy or rent in Empire City, don’t expect all the required infrastructure to be ready when you move in.

Empire City will eventually be served by Line 2 of the future Ho Chi Minh City Metro. Nothing offical has been released yet, but the plan is to extend Line 2 from Benh Thanh Central Station to the new Thu Thiem Railway Station. The general route alignment is shown on this small Line 2 map from the metro authority website. The map shows the line deviating towards the future Thu Thiem Square. It would make more sense to follow the route of Mai Chi Tho St, so we wait to see where exactly the metro station will be located.

Line 2 HCMC Metro

For airport connectivity there is going to be a rail service connecting Thu Thiem to the new Long Thanh International Airport. It’s just not known yet what kind of railway service it will be. There was also meant to be a metro connecting Tan Son Nhat Airport. I made an updated HCMC Metro map which shows all of the officially proposed lines. Note that only one line is currently under construction, and at the current rate this map is going to take years to fulfil.

There is a new railway terminal station planned in Thu Thiem, and a large parcel of land for this has been reserved on Mai Chi Tho. This will be the terminal for the future North-South high-speed railway.

Given the current rate of development, this could be years or even decades away. It’s not known if the old station will be kept in service, which would also be accessible by the Line 2 Metro.

Bridges

The Empire City site is located next to the area reserved for the Thu Thiem 4 Bridge, which will connect District 2 to District 4. There are no official images yet, but this old render of Empire City gives you a general idea of what it might look like

Empire City (old version)

In the future, there will be the Thu Thiem Pedestrian Bridge in front of the Lotte site, so it will be easy to walk to District 1 from Empire City.

The Thu Thiem 2 Bridge is also under construction, adding another way of getting to Empire City from District 1.

Official Websites

empirecity.vn

buro-os.com and @buroolescheeren on Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

Current Buro-OS Projects: Empire City in Ho Chi Minh City. "If you look at Vietnam's nature it's really incredible. It has the power of the tropics that I've loved for a long time. I believe that there's a real opportunity to look at ways in which nature, as living space, can come back into architecture — where 'green' is not merely a sense of alibi or a discussion of sustainability, but where it's really about … the quality of living that we can generate." Ole Scheeren for CNN. . . . #EmpireCity #HoChiMinhCity #Section #Visualization #HighRise #Skyscraper #SkyscraperArchitecture #Architecture #OleScheeren #BuroOleScheeren

A post shared by Buro Ole Scheeren (@buroolescheeren) on May 24, 2019 at 6:15am PDT

News Archive

2021

Landscape Architects 49 design the Empire City, the new iconic and sustainable urban center in Ho Chi Minh City – [21/09/21]

Empire City 26 May 2021
[Empire City 26/05/21.]

Soil testing at Empire City
[Soil testing at Empire City 02/05/21.]

2020

Empire City 14 November 2020
[Empire City 14/11/20.]

Empire City 14 November 2020
[Empire City 14/11/20.]


[Empire City under construction 03/05/20.]


[Empire City road works 03/05/20.]

Cove Residences Towers
[Cove Residences Towers 03/05/20.]

Empire City main tower site
[Empire City main tower site 03/05/20.]

2019

Empire City construction 08/12/19
[Empire City under construction 08/12/19.]

Empire City construction 14/09/19
[Empire City under construction 14/09/19.]

Linden Residences and Tilia Residences - Under construction
[Linden Residences (MU4) and Tilia Residences (MU7) – Under construction 14/09/19.]

Cove Residences under construction
[Cove Residences under construction 14/09/19.]

Site of Empire 88 Tower
[Site of Empire 88 Tower 14/09/19.]

Empire City under construction
[Empire City under construction 31/08/19.]

2018

Hoa Binh contractor won bid for $1.2 billion Empire City project – [09/07/18]

2017

No limits: Büro Ole Scheeren launches designs for Empire City in Vietnam – [15/11/17]

Ole Scheeren unveils plans for a spectacular ‘sky forest’ in Vietnam – [15/11/17]
The architect behind some of Asia’s most recognizable buildings has unveiled plans for a new skyscraper that he hopes will change the face of Vietnam’s largest city. Featuring an observation deck and an urban garden hundreds of feet above the ground, Ole Scheeren’s latest project will be built in central Ho Chi Minh City.

Empire City by Büro Ole Scheeren

Announcing Empire City, Büro Ole Scheeren’s landscaped high-rise ensemble for Vietnams next generation – [15/11/17]
Official announcement of the Empire City project from Büro Ole Scheeren.

Video of the Empire City sales gallery grand opening. The sales gallery built at site of Empire City in Thu Thiem new urban township was officially launched on 20/5/2017.

Promotional Video: Empire City_The better side of District 1: District 1.2. THis was released before the final design was known.

2016

Keppel Land inks $131.6m SGD deal for 40% stake in Empire City – [03/03/16]

Old version of Empire City - Thu Thiem
[Old version of Empire City before the towers designed by Ole Scheeren.]

2015

Firm approved to build Vietnam’s new tallest building in Saigon – [01/07/2015]
Ho Chi Minh City approves the construction Empire City, which will include the country’s tallest tower at 86 stories. The complex includes a shopping mall, a five-star hotel, offices and apartments. Construction is due to start in the fourth quarter of 2015 and finish in 2022.

Empire City - 2015 version
[2015 version of Empire City.]

2011

City’s Thu Thiem Peninsula to house 86-storey watchtower – [17/12/11]
Ho Chi Minh City calls for investors to develop projects in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area, including an 86-storey watchtower to be built by a joint venture between Tien Phuoc of Vietnam and Capital Land.

Thu Thiem (from 2011)
[Thu Thiem and the Empire City zone as it appeared in 2011.]

Share this:

  • Tweet

Filed Under: Vietnam Tagged With: district 2 HCMC, ho chi minh city, thu thiem, vietnam

About James Clark

James Clark is the editor of Future Southeast Asia and is currently based in Ho Chi Minh City. Follow his travels at nomadicnotes.com and on Twitter at @nomadicnotes

Reader Interactions

Subscribe To The Newsletter

Get weekly updates on construction, transport, and infrastructure news in Southeast Asia.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Future Southeast Asia

James Clark - editor of Future Southeast Asia Future Southeast Asia is a city development blog covering urban design, infrastructure, heritage conservation, and transport in Asia. Read more about this site.

Subscribe To The Newsletter

Get weekly updates on construction, transport, and infrastructure news in Southeast Asia.

Latest Posts

  • List of urban rail systems in Southeast Asia
  • Mekong Delta Bridges
  • Norea City – A new urban island in Phnom Penh
  • Phnom Penh – Siem Reap Railway
  • Makati-Taguig Skytrain – Proposed automated people mover in Metro Manila

Ho Chi Minh City Metro Concept Map

Ho Chi Minh City Metro Concept Map

Future Southeast Asia

About
Advertise
Contact
Media
Newsletter
Write For Us

Follow Us!

Search Future Southeast Asia

Future Southeast Asia Map
Site Map

Subscribe To The Newsletter

Copyright © 2023 Future Southeast Asia · Log in