In 1996, a seventeen-story tower rose from the Hankou riverfront, its curved facade cutting through the skyline like the hull of an ocean liner. This was the Wuhan Changhai Hotel, a three-star hotel located at No. 1 Lihuangpi Road along the Yangtze River. Locals, struck by its ship-like silhouette, affectionately named it "Lao Changhai" (Old Changhai). At its inception, it was the only star-rated hotel on the Hankou riverfront during the mid-1990s, standing at the boundary between the riverbank's "historical landscape" and "leisure" sections.

In 2018, after years of vacancy, the Shimao Xinda Hotel Group acquired the property and began a comprehensive transformation. The exterior—the ship's hull that had made it a landmark—was preserved. Inside, however, everything was reimagined. On July 28, 2020, the building reopened as the Wuhan Jiangtan Shimao Fanxiang Hotel, its new name reflecting the brand's philosophy: "Born Extraordinary, Boundless Diversity". The interior design, led by Studio HBA, drew inspiration from the layered history of the surrounding Hankou concession area. The designers incorporated red brick elements throughout the public spaces, a material deeply associated with Wuhan's treaty-port architecture.

The building's location at No. 1 Lihuangpi Road, at the intersection of a century-old street and the historic concession district, places it within walking distance of numerous heritage sites—the Soong Ching-ling Memorial Hall, the Lihuangpi Road pedestrian street, and the Hankou riverfront park. The "Old Changhai" that once stood alone on the riverbank has become part of a larger story: a physical record of Wuhan's layered history and its capacity for renewal. The ship, it turns out, was never finished sailing—it simply changed course.