Nan Fung Development’s Kai Tak project targets start-ups and creative enterprises
Nan Fung Development paid a Hong Kong record of HK$24.6 billion for a commercial site in Kai Tak in May. Now the developer is revealing its plans for the Kowloon East site
Imagine your office across a big park, besides a river and next to an MTR station in the heart of the city.
Nan Fung Development has envisioned something similar with its commercial site in the Kai Tak area, which promises to be a unique selling point in the city’s next central business district, and something which is currently not on offer in Central.
“Our site is situated beside the Kai Tak River, next to the proposed Kai Tak MTR station and across from a big garden. Together with nearby cultural and leisure facilities under construction, the whole area will attract start-ups and creative enterprises,” said Donald Choi, managing director of Nan Fung Development.
In May, cash rich Nan Fung Development, the textile producer that morphed into the developer of Hong Kong’s most exclusive real estate, won a commercial site in Kai Tak area for a record HK$24.6 billion (US$3.16 billion), smashing the previous world record set by the Murray Road site in Central during the same month.
The Kowloon East site, designated for office, retail or hotel development, will yield a total gross floor area of 1.91 million square feet.
The price represents HK$12,863 per square foot, 91 per cent higher than a nearby site won by Sogo department operator Lifestyle International Holdings in November, 2016. The department store operators won the site to house Hong Kong’s first iconic twin towers, for HK$7.39 billion, or HK$6,733 per sq ft.
Choi noted there were major changes underway in modern office working culture.