A New World Where Art and Property Collide
This developer has successfully tapped millennials. Now it needs to fix returns.
Adrian Cheng: First art, now returns.
Photographer: Justin Chin/BloombergTen years ago, when New World Development Co. vice chairman and heir apparent Adrian Cheng wanted to infuse art into his property projects to add value, Hong Kong critics were skeptical. The 38-year-old has made his plan a reality, setting off a lifestyle trend for Chinese millennials.
In his 20s, Cheng took note that people under 40 would soon account for half of China’s 1.38 billion population. The Harvard graduate and former banker joined New World, the company founded by his late grandfather Cheng Yu-tung, with a vision to build a strategy specifically aimed at attracting millennials, the main consumption driver in the decades to come.