TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ambassador Hotel Taipei on Zhongshan North Road was engulfed in thick white smoke Monday morning (Jan. 30), the first day back to work for many construction workers and those in nearby offices.

Six fire trucks and one ambulance pulled alongside the hotel which was encased in scaffolding and tarps with smoke rising from lower levels of the construction site. The commotion drew the attention of passersby.

Witnesses on the sidewalk opposite the hotel said they could smell a pungent odor emanating from what they thought was a fire on the lower levels of the hotel's reconstruction project. Fire vehicles continued to arrive on the scene and firefighters entered the premises.

The hotel opened in 1964 and was the first privately owned luxury hotel in Taiwan. The COVID pandemic was not kind to the hotel and had far fewer foreign tourist bookings. As a result, hotel management applied for usage changes and building redesign under the government’s program for regeneration and revitalization of old and dangerous buildings.

Both the Ambassador Hotel Taipei and the Ambassador Hotel Kaohsiung have been closed since the second half of 2022, awaiting major reconstruction efforts to reposition both facilities as mixed-use complexes featuring a hotel, entertainment space, and serviced apartment units.

The reconstructed building will be named the Ambassador Palace Hotel Taipei with a planned opening in 2028. It will be a joint venture with Japan’s Palace Hotel Tokyo. Previously, 70% of hotel guests were from Japan, enjoying a lucrative business segment that declined dramatically during COVID.

The new venture will include twin towers on the existing site, each standing 23 stories. Some 106 hotel rooms will occupy one tower, and 73 luxury residences averaging 300 square meters in size would comprise the adjacent tower.

As of press time, no explanation had been given regarding the cause of the fire.