Filipino tycoon Lucio Tan’s Hong Kong leasing business of 500 subdivided flats halts after breaching land lease rules
- The authorities also order Tan’s Eton Properties to return the properties to their original design
Eton Properties, owned by the family of Filipino magnate Lucio Tan, has been forced to put a hard stop to its leasing business of more than 500 subdivided flats in Hong Kong after breaching land lease rules.
The Lands Department also ordered the developer to return the properties to their original design or risk confiscation.
Eton’s marketing manager Cynthia Cheung said the company would change the use of the affected properties but did not provide details.
Since August last year, the developer had converted three luxury residential developments to house more and smaller flats, with each unit as small as 60 square feet.
It turned 18 flats in Woodland Villas on Shouson Hill Road into 270 units ranging between 80 and 200 sq ft in size to rent out as co-living space to young professionals. The development was renamed Mini Ocean Park Station and the flats offered at an all inclusive monthly rent starting from HK$8,000 (US$1,021).
Another development Banbo Villa in Stanley was transformed into 255 flats with units ranging from 60 sq ft to 120 sq ft, compared with the original 2,100 sq ft size of each unit. The smaller flats at the project, renamed as Mini Studio, are offered at as low as HK$4,000 per month.