Overview
Kowloon Tong has been the heartland of luxurious living at the foot of the Lion Rock since the 1920s, when the area was turned into an English-style township with two-storey town houses. Over the years, the areas on either side of Waterloo Road north of Boundary Street and east of the railway have retained the character of expensive low-rise homes surrounded by mid- to high-rise apartment blocks. Street names carry names of English counties and towns such as Dorset, Norfolk, Suffolk, Somerset, York, Essex, Oxford and Kent, and are reminders of the area's colonial history. This characteristic may have led author Paul Theroux to use Kowloon Tong as the title of his novel about a tangle between the British upper class and a mainland heavyweight set in the run-up to Hong Kong's handover in 1997. The book makes references to hourly hotels which Kowloon Tong is renowned for. They stand incongruously next to kindergartens, homes for the elderly and bridal studios which make use of the quaint town houses for the perfect portrait. Over the years, Kowloon Tong has grown into a favourite district for parents who want to give their schoolchildren a geographical advantage to win a coveted place in one of the many prestigious schools in the area. They also have a choice of residential options in the Broadcast Drive and Beacon Hill areas if the more exclusive town houses are beyond reach.
Accommodation
Mount Beacon is the most recent mid-rise residential development in Kowloon Tong. Developed by Sino Group, Manhattan Group and Chinese Estates Holdings, the Cornwall Street development has units ranging from about 1,000 sqft to houses of 4,000 sqft. The apartments are marketed at an average selling price of HK$14,000 to HK$15,000 per sqft, and the houses go for about HK$17,300 per sqft. An apartment of about 1,500 sqft will yield a monthly rental of HK$50,000 without parking, according to Centaline Property Agency (Kowloon luxury) senior district manager Sebastian Leung Wai-lun. Another option for large-scale development is One Beacon Hill (right), a Cheung Kong (Holdings) project completed in 2004. The units are leasing at an average of HK$25 to HK$33 per sqft. A 1,954 sqft apartment was recently rented for HK$65,000 per month with parking, Mr Leung said. Smaller units of 1,300 to 1,500 sqft in the development are going for about HK$40,000 per month. Other choices range from, at the low end, 500 to 700 sqft apartments on Broadcast Drive leasing from HK$12,000 per month to, at the top end, a 6,000 sqft duplex in Louise Garden on 21 La Salle Road leasing for HK$150,000 per month, or selling for HK$60 million. Short and flexible term leasing can be found at serviced apartment Tsun Ning Court on La Salle Road, which offers 300 sqft studios to 930 sqft two-bedroom suites for a monthly rate of HK$9,900 to HK$26,100.
Roads and Transport
Kowloon Tong is a major interchange for traffic between the New Territories and Kowloon Peninsula. The Mass Transit Railway and Kowloon-Canton Railway have a major interchange there. Waterloo Road connects Kowloon with the New Territories via Sha Tin and the Lion Rock Tunnel.