Exclusive | Conversion of Hong Kong police station to arts centre busts budget

Hong Kong Jockey Club expects to spend ‘about double’ the initial HK$1.8 billion budgeted for creating Tai Kwun arts centre at former Central Police Station compound, a project hit by delays following a building’s collapse

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The cost of converting the 19th century former Central Police Station compound in Central has ballooned to about HK$3.6 billion, twice the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s initial estimate. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 7:43pm, 27 Apr 2018Updated: 11:34pm, 27 Apr 2018

The Hong Kong Jockey Club expects to spend about double its original budget on the revitalisation of the Central Police Station compound, the Post has learned.

The Jockey Club, which has underwritten and managed the transformation of the 150-year-old former police station and prison compound, estimated the project would cost HK$1.8 billion (US$230 million) when work began in 2011 – a figure it has not revised until now despite heavy delays to the project.

The collapse of the roof and a wall of the former married police inspectors' quarters at the Central compound in 2016 delayed the Jockey Club project. Photo: Edmond So

“The total project development and capital cost is about double our initial estimate. The project [is] not completed yet and we do not have an exact cost figure to provide at this point,” the club said in an emailed statement in response to the Post’s questions.

The Post’s own calculations show the club’s charities trust had spent around HK$3.4 billion by the end of March.

The club has the monopoly on horse racing and sports betting in a city that likes a flutter, and has often been dubbed “Hong Kong’s ATM” since, as a non-profit, it has to donate all its surplus.