King Wong Development Holdings plans to remodel Lamma Island into another Island South district, made famous by its luxury residential properties. The company last Wednesday unveiled its plans to turn Lamma into an upmarket area after buying a 42,194 square foot residential site on the island for $64 million. The price, more than double the $25 million opening bid, represented an average of $2,527 per sq ft. It is also the first Lamma site released for sale via public auction. Managing director Boby Li Kin-keung said the company would develop the first luxury residential project on the island, which was dominated by traditional village homes. 'Our idea is to build something like Mediterranean-style detached houses or those kinds of luxury properties in Deep Water Bay,' he said. The proposed development would comprise 16 to 20 detached houses of 2,000 sq ft each, he said. The site was close to the beach and five minutes' walk from the Yung Shue Wan ferry pier, he said. 'We are thinking of the ground floor for putting windsurfing stuff, or owners can later turn it into a car park if vehicles are allowed on the island one day,' he said. Estimated development cost of the project would be about $150 million, he added. He said the company had accumulated an agricultural land bank of several hundred thousand square feet in Lamma in the past two years. An application had been submitted to the Government to change land use for residential purpose, he said. 'We will develop luxury homes on these lands if we obtain government approval,' he said. Lamma had an area of 138 hectares, with seven beaches that had potential to become another Stanley and Chung Hom Kok in the Island South district, he said. 'But there are only three detached-house projects, located far from the island's town centre, each having its private ferry pier,' he said. 'The majority are traditional village homes without any upmarket developments,' he said. The latest transaction price for village houses in Lamma was only $3,300 per sq ft, he said. Lamma was left undeveloped because of difficulties in assembling sites from villagers who were the big land owners, he said. The company also was developing two luxury residential projects in Stanley - one on a 7,000 sq ft site and another 20,000 sq ft site for seven detached houses - at a total development cost of $400 million, he said.
