Concord Group's revised plan for its proposed Old Hong Kong tourist development at Quarry Bay failed to gain Town Planning Board approval yesterday. A board spokeswoman said it had not endorsed the project although Concord had scaled down the size of the development. She said board members did not feel comfortable about the proposal. Concord's plan was to build a tourist-commercial development on three waterfront sites spanning 6.92 hectares and featuring three themes - Old Central, Old Wan Chai and Old Happy Valley. In its latest scaled-back application, Concord proposed to build about 740,000 square feet of floor area on two sites. A 4.68 ha site, the biggest in the original plan, had been excluded as an optional development. The bulk of the land is owned by the government while Concord owns a 26,436 sq ft site. However, the spokeswoman said the planning board had agreed to rezone the two sites, at present used for temporary car parking, works facilities or open space, into cultural, commercial, leisure and tourist-related uses. The conversion was in line with the government's efforts to encourage such developments along the waterfront, she said. A 600-metre promenade was proposed for inclusion in the rezoning and height controls would be imposed. Meanwhile, the Mass Transit Railway Corp (MTRC)suffered another setback in its bid to redevelop a bus terminus in Tsing Yi for commercial and educational uses. The planning board yesterday rejected its application to build an 18-storey educational-use tower and a 26-storey hotel on a four-level podium, providing a total floor area of 1.42 million sq ft. The proposed hotel had 590 rooms with a total area of 446,700 sq ft, with another 107,640 sq ft for commercial and retail use. The MTRC had joined with a university to provide post-secondary education in the other portion of the project. The board spokeswoman said the proposal was not in line with planning intentions for the site, which was designated for low-rise buildings for government, institutional and community uses.
