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Green Sense to block planned high-rise for Wong Tai Sin site

An environmental group says it will apply to block any high-rise tower planned for a residential site in Wong Tai Sin after Wheelock Properties triggered a government auction for the land.

The group, Green Sense, yesterday said it would ask the Lands Department to reduce the site's plot ratio in order to prevent the construction of the building.

The plot ratio determines the total gross floor area of a development.

The escalating dispute between the government and environmentalists over the city's living environment threatens to stall the pace of government land sales.

Wheelock applied for the 102,279 square foot site at Chun Yan Street, the former Wong Tai Sin Police Headquarters, offering a guaranteed minimum bid of HK$3 billion, or HK$3,260 per square foot.

A developer can trigger an auction by making a bid that is at least 80 per cent of a site's reserve price.

The site, with a permitted height of 140 metres, could be developed into a tower of more than 30 storeys with a potential gross floor area of 920,000 sqft.

It is one of 10 lots on the government's land application list with potential to form a wall trapping smog and heat in the area, according to Green Sense.

'We are disappointed by the triggering of the Wong Tai Sin site,' the group said.

Green Sense would urge a study to ensure any future development would not block air ventilation to the rest of the area, it said.

A site in West Kowloon earlier this month was sold to Sun Hung Kai Properties for HK$5.56 billion, compared with market forecasts of up to HK$6.4 billion. It is the subject of a pending judicial review - initiated by a resident and backed by Green Sense - and a town planning application aimed at reducing the size of the permitted development.

The judicial hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

Charles Chan Chiu-kwok, the managing director of Savills Valuation and Professional Services, said he would reduce his estimation for the Wong Tai Sin site by 10 per cent to as low as HK$3.6 billion if someone filed a judicial review to block the auction.

'The bidding will be affected by the move,' Mr Chan said, pointing out the lower than expected sale price for the West Kowloon site.

Excluding the potential impact of such a review, surveyors expect the site to fetch HK$4 billion to HK$4.6 billion.

Ricky Wong Kwong- yiu, an executive director of Wheelock, believed the government had taken note of the environmentalists' concerns on the issue.

'The Wong Tai Sin site has a height limit, and the design will take care of the air ventilation in the area [if it won the site],' Mr Wong said.

He expects the site would involve investment of HK$5 billion to HK$6 billion.

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