THE Mass Transit Railway Corp's (MTRC) first real estate development tender at Tung Chung station on the airport railway was sealed yesterday with the signing of an agreement by a consortium of five property heavyweights. The deal was signed by Hang Lung Development chairman Ronnie Chan, Sun Hung Kai Properties executive director Thomas Chan, Swire Properties managing director Keith Kerr, Henderson Land vice-chairman Li Ka-kit and New World Development general manager Stewart Leung Chi-kin. The MTRC announced earlier this month that the development rights for the 8.43 hectare site had been awarded to a consortium. Development is expected to cost $10 billion, including land premiums. After much controversy, the Government is believed to have settled for a lower land premium of an average $900 per square foot. The land-premium payment for the entire site of 3.73 million sq ft has not been finalised but is expected to be about $3.5 billion. It is understood that the consortium will be required to pay $1.73 billion for the first site, which comprises 1.8 million sq ft gross of residential space and 32,292 sq ft of retail space. The government recently set the premium for the second site, which comprises three small plots. The payments are about $910 per sq ft for the 161,460 sq ft of office space and the 236,808 sq ft of hotel space. Retail space with a total gross floor area of 4.63 million sq ft is about $780 per sq ft. The land premium payment for one site - with 1.01 million sq ft of gross floor area for residential use and 26,910 sq ft for retail use - has yet to be fixed.