Office space in Genesis building offered at below market rents to entice creative industries
Spaces at 22-storey Genesis available to artists and start-ups below market rate
Creative workers are being enticed by the promise of cheaper rents to Wong Chuk Hang's first industrial-turned-commercial building, following revitalisation measures introduced by the government in 2009.
About 10 per cent of the office space has already been leased to three non-governmental organisations at one-third of the market rent to support young artists and start-ups, said David Fong Man-hung, managing director of the development company behind Genesis, at the building's opening ceremony yesterday.
Built in the 1980s, the 22-storey Genesis was originally named Good Prospect Building, before developer Hip Shing Hong decided to spend HK$200 million to revitalise it in 2012 through a Development Bureau scheme intended to optimise land use.
Fong added that it had taken some time to agree with government officials on how to comply with the scheme, which was introduced in 2009 to encourage owners of old industrial buildings to redevelop the buildings.
"It was a new policy and it involved several government departments," he said.
"We had difficulties conforming to the parking space planning requirements as an old industrial building, at first. So it needed a lot of discussions with departments to solve the problem."