The government is making a last-ditch effort to persuade the owner of Ho Tung Gardens on The Peak to keep at least the facade of the historic mansion.
Ho Min-kwan, granddaughter of the late tycoon who built the mansion on 75 Peak Road, dismissed the proposal as weird and rejected further negotiations with officials. She is looking to demolish the mansion and build 10 houses on the 11,520 square metre site in a HK$7 billion project.
The Development Bureau has refrained from declaring the place a monument since a one-year provisional-monument status protecting it expired at the end of January.
Secretary for Development Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor told lawmakers yesterday that she had not given up the plan to protect the grade-one historic site.
'A month ago, we started to explore another opportunity and met the owner again,' Lam said.
People familiar with the project said bureau officials, instead of persisting with a land-exchange proposal that Ho had turned down, were now suggesting that she retain part of the facade of the main building while redeveloping the rest of the site.
Ho would still be able to realise the allowed development potential of 5,800 square metres of residential space, but she would need to revise her original design of 10 houses, they said.