Daughter of Hong Kong’s ‘queen of serviced apartments’ brings luxury to Tuen Mun with launch of 99Commons industrial building for creatives

When Anna Mae Koo inherited a small industrial plot in Tuen Mun from her grandfather in 2016, she decided her first project would benefit the community and not be purely for profit.

She hoped to build a community of creative enterprises and bring like-minded people to Tuen Mun. “When I spoke to industry experts about my plan, most said a high-end industrial project would not find tenants in the district, which is considered old and inaccessible. I was advised to build a data centre, which would be easier to lease and would fetch good money,” said Koo. She is the director of Sage Properties, which focuses on commercial and industrial assets in Hong Kong.

Koo decided to proceed with her plan and demolished two low-rise cold storage buildings on the site to make way for 99Commons, a trendy and stylish 18-floor industrial building. The project, which took four years to complete and cost more than HK$1 billion (US$129 million), has 338 units.

With an average monthly rent of HK$20 per square foot, a 450 sq ft studio costs less than HK$10,000 a month, which is affordable for start-ups, Koo said. About 100 units on four floors have been leased out so far, to companies in music production, trading and technology, she added.

“It is amazing to see one-third of our tenants coming from walk-in customers instead of being referring by agents. They signed leases with us after visiting the project in person,” Koo said. The tenants were willing to pay more for a premium property, as compared with old industrial buildings nearby that were available for as low as HK$8 per square foot, she added.

Of course, Koo is no stranger to premium property. She is the daughter of Vivien Chan, who is known as Hong Kong’s “queen of serviced apartments”. Chan’s V Group owns luxury serviced apartments in Wan Chai, Happy Valley and Causeway Bay.