MTR Corp said yesterday it had received 14 expressions of interest from developers to build a large-scale luxury residential project above Austin Station in West Kowloon.
Among the interested developers are Cheung Kong (Holdings), Sun Hung Kai Properties, Henderson Land Development, New World Development, Kowloon Development, Sino Land, USI Holdings, Hang Lung Properties, Kerry Properties, Nan Fung Development and Wheelock Properties.
'We are pleased with the good response,' said Thomas Ho, a project director at MTR Corp. 'We will proceed to shortlist the eligible developers and consortiums who will be invited to submit a tender for the development project.'
It is the first MTR project to be offered for tender since the start of the global financial crisis in September 2008.
The project will be built on top of the new Austin station at Canton Road, next to the golf driving range, which will be pulled down and become part of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link at West Kowloon station.
'The sites at Austin station will benefit from the two new railway lines and also the development of the West Kowloon Cultural District, said Alnwick Chan Chi-hing, an executive director at Knight Frank. 'The Kowloon station area has become a new luxury residential area. It is attractive to developers.'
Even though the project attracted more than a dozen developers, Chan said he believed only five or six developers could afford the large cost of the project.