West Kowloon’s commercial site draws a bid from Sun Hung Kai Properties, no news on others as deadline passes
- SHKP has submitted a tender for the plot, located in an area that has been touted as the city’s premier arts hub
- The latest tender included an extension of the build-operate-transfer (BOT) term to 47 years or until 2070
A commercial site being sold by West Kowloon Cultural District, which had been expected to fetch as much as HK$10.5 billion (US$1.3 billion), has received one known bid from one of Hong Kong’s biggest developers amid a tough property environment.
Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) has submitted a tender for the plot, located in an area that has been touted as the city’s premier arts hub. The site comprises three buildings with office, retail, dining and entertainment features in the 40-hectare district.
“Yes we have submitted a tender,” a spokeswoman for SHKP confirmed to the Post via email.
The latest tender included an extension of the build-operate-transfer (BOT) term to 47 years or until 2070. While the terms of sale were enhanced, they still were not in line with the standard 50-year grant given to winning bidders in other land tenders in Hong Kong.
The sale is taking place at a difficult time for Hong Kong’s property market, which is battling a triple whammy of rising interest rates, knock-on effects from the pandemic, and a slump in the city’s stock market.