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Peggy Sito

SHKP needs a GPS, or a better proofreader
Strolling along the waterfront in Central during his evening tea break, Ah Pak noticed that the lights were blazing from the upper floors of  the International Commerce Centre across the harbour.
With tenants in zone three due to move in this month, the city's tallest building was getting a final touch-up, it seemed.
And talking of touch-ups, Ah Pak wonders if ICC developer Sun Hung Kai Properties plans to touch up the English version of its latest online interim report, which contains some embarrassing gaffes.  
Pictured prominently in the report is its ICC development, which it hopes will become the new 'des-res' for office tenants. Trouble is that the building is identified as Two IFC, which means confused tenants due to move into ICC at the end of the month could  show up for work at the wrong address. The report may also have analysts scrambling to find out whether SHKP has done a secret deal with the Bank of China, since the bank's towering Central HQ is identified as 'Cullinan I'. Meanwhile, SHKP's Two IFC is identified as 'Cullinan II'. Welcome to the cruel world of publishing. Doctors, it is said, bury their mistakes. Publishers lay them out in full-colour splendour for all to see.
Chuanghui's owner back in the business
The painful experience of having to close branches and lay off staff last year prompted  property agency Centaline (China) to avoid rushing into  opening new branches this year despite the property rebound, as Ah Pak noted last week. 
Others may have a higher pain threshold.  New kid on the block  JJJ Home boasts  on its website that it has opened nearly 100 outlets in Shenzhen since setting up for business at the start of the year and is still growing.
Ah Pak wonders if the agents employed by JJJ Home are aware of the talk  circulating in mainland property blogs that their boss is none other than Lin Fenghui,   owner of Chuanghui Real Estate Consultancy.  Once reputed to be the largest agency in the country,  with a network of 1,800 outlets,   Chuanghui  closed  most of its branches last year when the market slumped, leaving disgruntled employees clamouring for unpaid commissions and customers demanding their  down payments back. 
Intrigued by the talk, Ah Pak called  JJJ Home to verify whether Mr Lin had resurfaced in the agency business. He was told by a company executive that Mr Lin was indeed part of the 'management' but did not own any shares in JJJ. The executive declined to name the firm's owner.
Watch this space for developments.
Retiring Swire chief to start his own outfit
Swire Properties chairman Keith Kerr is retiring in more ways than one and has been  tight-lipped about his retirement plans.
But the reporters that have pestered him fruitlessly on the subject may glean a snippet of information from a recent interview Mr Kerr granted to SQM magazine.  
In the magazine, published by Jones Lang LaSalle, Mr Kerr said he would continue to live in Hong Kong and establish his own business in the city. 
'I will form a new company, and exactly what business model it follows has yet to be determined, as I am still exploring different options,' he said.
Mr Kerr also revealed how mathematics helped him ease into life in Hong Kong when he arrived in the city as a young man 34 years ago. 
'I studied mathematics at university and, as always, Asians formed quite a large proportion of the students in any science class. So I came to know a lot of Asians and got along well with them very early on as a student,' he said.



Ah Pak