How developer Rykadan turned a Hong Kong basketball court into ‘tiny’ flats for big profits

William Chan, chairman of Hong Kong-listed property company Rykadan Capital, feels no shame in describing how small the company’s first and only residential development was.

Indeed, he is proud to tell how he turned the site in Jordan, which was smaller than a basketball court, into a 66 “tiny” flat development known as The Paseo that generated property sales of more than HK$390 million for the company last year.

“When I brought my wife to see the site the first question she raised was, ‘Is it a basketball court?’,” Chan recalled, adding that the site was even smaller than a standard basketball court, which is 94 feet by 50 feet.

Rykadan bought the 2,920 sq ft site at 7 Kwun Chung Street from the government for HK$194 million in December 2012 after beating 12 bidders.

“We have transformed from fitting-out work into property development since 2012, starting from commercial property. At the time, we wanted to have a try in residential development so we picked a tiny site,” he said.

Rykadan Capital was formerly known as Sundart International, which listed in 2009, and originally specialised in providing professional fitting-out work for residential properties and hotel projects in Hong Kong and Macau. Its name was changed to Rykadan Capital in September 2012 after Chan, also a major shareholder of the company, sold the integrated fitting-out business and shifted its focus on property development.