Kowloon City’s small streets to be preserved in HK$11.6 billion redevelopment as Urban Renewal Authority adopts new ‘community’ approach

A HK$11.6 billion redevelopment of Kowloon City will mark a break from the Urban Renewal Authority’s tradition of putting up single “pencil” buildings and malls, as the body pledged to preserve small streets in the plan.

The authority said it would focus on redeveloping small neighbourhoods instead of single buildings from now on, with the project announced on Friday being the beginning of a “new mindset”.

“We want to do something more than a developer, something that can benefit the community,” said chairman Victor So Hing-woh of the authority’s determination to preserve streets and local shops.

So had been criticised for acting too much like a developer and treating the authority as a for-profit business.

But managing director Daniel Lam Chun expects the project will see losses of HK$1.7 billion due to high acquisition costs. If the four private streets within the proposed area cannot be counted as part of the plot, losses may increase to HK$2.7 billion, he said.

The proposed plot spans 8,000 square metres of six to nine-storey blocks nestled between Wing Kwong Street and Bailey Street. It is identified as a “priority area” in the community-based Kowloon City District Urban Renewal Forum’s plan in 2014.

There are 880 individual ownership titles, with the number of living units estimated to be around 2,000 because of a large number of subdivided flats, said Michael Ma Chiu-tsee, director of planning and design. This could pose a challenge in negotiating a buy-up deal, he said.