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Kowloon Development to pay HK$9.66 billion premium in St Joseph’s Home for the Aged land exchange

  • The deal represents the largest land premium paid since 2017
  • Kowloon Development has sought to redevelop the St Joseph’s Home site for years before land exchange

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A general view of the site of the former St. Joseph's Home for the Aged in Ngau Chi Wan in 2014. Photo: Edward Wong/SCMP
Chad Bray

Kowloon Development has agreed to exchange land it had hoped to redevelop for years on the site of the former St Joseph’s Home for the Aged in Clear Water Bay, and will pay the largest land premium in four years for another site in Kowloon.

The property developer said two of its subsidiaries agreed to surrender a 19,335 sq m (208,120 sq ft) lot at the historic site to the government and would pay a premium of HK$9.66 billion (US$1.24 billion) for a larger lot of 22,373 sq m with a 50-year lease term, according to a stock exchange filing on Friday.

Kowloon Development said it plans to build five residential towers on the new site over a retail shopping centre.

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“With the development of the regranted lot, it is expected to bring synergy to the company’s property portfolio, enhance its income revenue and yield long-term return for the shareholders of the company,” Kowloon Development said in the filing. “The company’s development land bank and foundation will also be further broadened and strengthened as a result.”

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The new lot will yield a maximum of 2.16 million sq ft of total gross floor space, with the land premium translating into HK$4,464 per sq ft.

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The announcement did not specify where the new lot is, just that it is identified as New Kowloon Inland Lot No. 6458. A search of the city’s Land Registry late Friday did not immediately produce a location for the lot.

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