May 2003 The Government awards the tender for the former Marine Police headquarters to Flying Snow, a subsidiary of Cheung Kong (Holdings), on a 50-year land grant at HK$352.8 million.
December 2003 Cheung Kong files an application to the Environmental Protection Department to cut most of the trees surrounding the complex, saying they are small and in average-to-poor condition. Of 192 trees on the site, 24 are kept and 19 transplanted. The developer agrees to plant 92 trees to compensate for the 149 lost. To make way for the widening of Canton Road, a century-old granite retaining wall is demolished.
May 2004 Cheung Kong unveils a HK$650-million scheme to convert the former Marine Police headquarters into a 132,000-sq-ft hotel and retail complex.
November 2006 Conservationists are alarmed to find that Cheung Kong wipes out the original landscape at the site and transplants century-old trees into huge pots. Construction work is carried out behind high walls.
February 2007 Building plans show the gross floor area in the project's new development is 7,412.95 square metres. The actual gross floor area of the site's historic buildings is 5,610.08 square metres.
March 2009 A Land Registry document dated March 10, 2009, shows Cheung Kong paid a premium of HK$94.5 million for the revised concept plans. The document also says total gross floor area of the new development may exceed 7,213 square metres but not exceed 7,413 square metres.
