The Zhongshan Park business district has been full of office buildings. Raffles City, Longemont, Zhaofeng Plaza Office Building and Huaning, each holds a place in the city's business landscape. However, in the past two years, the Youyou Center Office Building, which has undergone urban renewal and renovation, has been accelerating over the course of its investment promotion process.

The Youyou Center was converted from an old-style hotel, with a total construction area of less than 20,000 square meters. The project adopts a layout model of commercial space in the lower-tier floors and businesses in the upper-tier floors, with renovations completed by the end of 2023 and officially open for lease in April 2024.By the first half of this year, its occupancy rate had climbed to 95 percent, attracting a group of high-quality companies with industry influence, including top global IP operators, internationally renowned advertising agencies, and convenience chain store businesses.

Its hardware conditions are certainly not "top-tier," yet how did the center win market appeal? 

Facing competition from large-scale benchmark office buildings nearby, the operations team chose a differentiated approach. 

Limited by the original structure, the ceiling heights that cannot match with newly built office buildings, however the building retains the unique advantages of hotel renovation.The layout is square and column-free, resulting in a high usable area ratio and more spacious space. More importantly, the team paid close attention to the details.Thanks to the original hotel design, the bathroom ratio inside the building is higher than that of ordinary office buildings, and the 24-hour independent metering air conditioning system is also retained. For creative and tech companies with frequent overtime work, electricity costs alone can be reduced by about half of the monthly costs. 

Outdoor scenery is another "trump card." The building has an L-shaped layout, with most office areas facing Zhongshan Park and offering open, unobstructed views. Many clients said after their first on-site inspection that the park view outside the window was one of the key factors in their decision. 

In terms of office leasing strategy, the team did not seek to reach as many potential clients as possible, but rather focused on finding clients who "have a similar mindset". 

Following the arrival of the first tenant, the word-of-mouth effect is gradually becoming apparent. These high-quality companies typically have a low-key style and demand extremely high privacy and comfort in their office environments. To address this, the building implemented strict elevator control management and introduced professional logistics companies stationed onsite, conducting scheduled visits twice daily to send and receive courier packages to minimize external interference.

"Our potential tenants are seeing office locations just like selecting residential units. They're not pursuing grand lobbies, but focusing more on the layout of the rooms, sufficient lighting, and a quiet environment,"  head of the leasing department at Youyou Center stated. Through a deep understanding of customer needs, it has made the leasing process quite smooth. Data shows that in 2024, the project added over 10,000 square meters of new rental area, ranking among the top new supply projects in the region; Of the 5,000 square meters of new area that were leased in 2025, nearly half will be due to proactive expansion by existing customers. 

The smooth progress of the project depends on the precise services of the local Huayang Road Subdistrict. 

In the early stages of the project's operation, due to the need for coordinated advancement of new property certificate processing and enterprise renovation applications, the Huayang Road Subdistrict Business Environment Department proactively provided frontline services, it set up a communication and coordination platform, and worked with relevant functional departments to strengthen policy guidance and process coordination.Through special coordination meetings and other means, they offered proper resolutions targeting specific issues, providing strong support for the smooth operation of the project and the orderly settlement of tenants. 

In daily operations, the subdistrict extends its services to the "last mile." From assisting enterprises with registration procedures to inviting experts to give special lectures on issues commonly concerning foreign-invested enterprises such as labor laws and tax policies.It has created a favorable business environment that is always responsive upon every request but refrained from disturbance otherwise, which has offered  both enterprises and office building management team with genuine support. 

Currently, the management team of this relatively small office building is carrying out a refined operation in terms of tenant development and building management.From the project team's perspective, for urban renewal projects, there is no need in becoming a "landmark." Achieving stable cash flow and a healthy customer structure within limited physical space is also a form of success.