Magnum opus

'Starchitects' like Frank Gehry designing luxury apartment blocks are a novelty for Hong Kong. Opus Hong Kong has just been unveiled and is expected to break all records for residential leasing and sales here. Located on upper Stubbs Road, the sleek glass 12-storey tower has 12 apartments, each with a customised floor plan. Gehry describes them as 'individual houses in the sky'.

'This is going to be one of the most iconic buildings in Hong Kong,' says Mandy Wong, national director, leasing and relocation services at agents Jones Lang LaSalle. 'We expect record sale prices and rentals.'

Designed with an unusual twisting torso, the block has a wave-like glass skin. Almost every room has floor to ceiling windows, with a view either over Victoria Harbour or up to Mount Cameron behind. Every unit occupies a separate floor, aside from the ground floor duplexes, which each have their own pool and garden. At 6,000 to 6,900 square feet, these are among the biggest units in Hong Kong.

All this comes at a monumental price, and Martin Cubbon, chief executive of the developer, Swire Properties, revealed that the total development cost for the building was HK$27,000 per square foot. While Swire initially said it planned to retain the block and lease the units, it now says it would consider selling, Cubbon said, 'if someone came along with a very big cheque'. Since his announcement, the buzz surrounding Opus has grown in volume.

So far the Opus has been a magnum of hype, with elaborate press tours designed to talk up the project as much as possible. The apartments are still in the 'soft marketing' phase and have yet to hit the market, but the rumour mill is working overtime. Swire is playing its cards close to its chest, with no prices released yet. They are rumoured to be hovering around a breathtaking target sale price of HK$80,000 per square foot, but local property agents feel a more realistic asking price would be in the HK$50,000 to HK$60,000 range. With a name like Gehry's on the building, the developer is undoubtedly relying on star power to up the ante.

It seems a sure bet that whether for sale or lease, the Opus units will set new records for super luxury residential property in Hong Kong. Parallels are hard to find, because of a scarcity of huge flats at the top end. Currently, large units approaching 8,000 sq ft at The Lily, a comparable property in Repulse Bay, lease for approximately HK$470,000 a month. Flats measuring 4,888 sq ft at another expensive address, the 12-storey Tavistock on Tregunter Path, were renting for HK$340,000 a month at the end of last year. Wild speculation aside, of which there is plenty, on a pro rata per square foot basis, this would put Opus rents in the realm of HK$500,000 to HK$600,000 a month, rising incrementally with each floor.