Hong Kong hotels may become office complexes as owners eye bigger profits
Grand View Hotel and Rosedale Hotel buyers secure government approvals for redevelopment plans to in case the hospitality industry’s fortunes decline
Hong Kong’s tourism industry may be on the upswing after a three-year downturn as more tourists visit from the mainland, but this has not stopped hotel owners toying with the idea of converting them into office complexes amid strong demand and the prospect of bigger profit.
The 317-room Grand View Hotel, formerly known as Newton Inn, in North Point, and the 300-room Rosedale Hotel in Causeway Bay are two such properties that could see their new owners turning them into office towers.
“Plans for the proposed conversion of the two hotels into office developments have been submitted to the Buildings Department,” said William Cheng Kai-ming, chairman of Shun Ho Property Investments, which bought Newton Inn for HK$1 billion (US$128 million) from Henderson Land Development in February 2017.
Cheng’s family also bought the Rosedale Hotel for HK$1.6 billion from Bank of China last June.
“It does not mean we will convert the two properties right away. We are still optimistic as the hotel market has climbed out of a three-year depression since the middle of 2017. Hong Kong’s overall hotel revenue has increased by 10 per cent last year as the trend of tourists from the mainland is on the rise,” he told South China Morning Post.
