THE developer of a new Mongkok shopping mall has no qualms about the prolonged retail sales slump or the increasing number of empty shops in Hong Kong.
Speaking at the official unveiling of the Cheung Tai Manufacturing (CTMA) centre yesterday, the firm's managing director, Peter Ng, said the unfavourable economic conditions would be no hindrance to leasing the centre's floor space.
He said mainlanders and bargain-hunters who flocked to Mongkok each day would ensure that the 23-storey retail complex would attract a keen response when it came up for leasing next month.
Colliers Jardine's research department said the number of mainland tourists visiting the Mongkok area this year to shop had risen 50 per cent over those last year.
Colliers Jardine managing director Allan Yeung said: 'In our forecasts we expect the numbers of mainland tourists to keep on expanding.
'The growth rate has already been significant.' Creon Kwong, project manager for Colliers Jardine, which has been appointed sole leasing agent for the project, said retail rents in Mongkok had remained 'quite stable' for the past year.
Mr Ng said rents would begin at $45 per square foot for space in the 81,439 sq ft shopping centre.