Cheung Kong (Holdings) has obtained approval for its redevelopment plans for Luso Apartments in Kowloon Tong, even though it has yet to gain total ownership of the site, as it rushed to avoid size restrictions being introduced to the low-density neighbourhood.
The city's second-largest developer by market capitalisation intends to use the 126,000 square foot site in Warwick Road, next to Beacon Hill School, to develop four 13-storey residential buildings, providing a gross floor area of 372,183 sqft, according to the plans approved by the Buildings Department last month but announced yesterday.
The developer hoped to avoid getting ensnared by the Planning Department's restrictions on building height and plot ratio in Kowloon Tong that already covered 22 sites in and around College Road, Broadcast Drive and Ede Road, but not the Luso Apartments, Knight Frank executive director Alnwick Chan Chi-hing said.
Cheung Kong had owned about 60 per cent of Luso Apartments since 2005, sources said.
However, the Li Ka-shing flagship had not been able to reach an agreement with the remaining flat owners, some of whom were rival major developers, property agents said.
But Mr Chan said the plans could still be shot down 'if the Planning Department went ahead and imposed development control on the site'.
