Transactions surge as Masterpiece draws buyers
2 September 2009
South China Morning Post

About 200 flats were sold in the primary residential market over the weekend, up from just 60 deals in the previous period, with the focus of buyers on the newly launched Masterpiece in Tsim Sha Tsui.

The 345-unit project, jointly developed by New World Development and the Urban Renewal Authority, was launched with a first batch of 66 flats over the weekend at HK$17,363 per square foot and by the end of the weekend had sold 130 units at prices between HK$13,500 and HK$23,000 per square foot, reaping sales of HK$3.8 billion. The project is expected for completion next month.

Grand Garden, built by Circle Property Development in Sai Wan Ho and already ready for occupancy, recorded 18 transactions while Henderson Land secured buyers for 10 units in its Spectacle development in Kowloon East, and sold seven flats in Shining Heights at Tai Kok Tsui.

In the secondary market, transaction volume rebounded 6.48 per cent to 463 units last week after a decline of 8.26 per cent recorded a week earlier, data compiled by Ricacorp Properties shows.

According to the Centa-City Leading Index, home prices in the secondary market have jumped 24.67 per cent so far this year.

David Chan Tai-wai, a director at Ricacorp, said the secondary market would now enter a period of consolidation because the benchmark Hang Seng Index had retreated to below 20,000 points and the market lacked any fresh stimulus.

TV Ad

ZgXFMoPcGgM

It looks more like a hotel to me

'HK$13,500 and HK$23,000 per square foot'

Wow! Recession - what recession!

Don't think there was a recession at all. The market died during spring but sprang right back to life in June. Now it's back up to the boom end-2008 levels.

I finally know how to say that damn word. Thanks for the commercial.

The commercial shows that they sure know how to compare to the world's tallest buildings with a 275m retro-styled block.

Advertising for the project by FT7052 from a Hong Kong bus forum :

http://www.pic-hoster.com/images/ys7e5wn3280sge6q46e.png

Masterpiece price for flat
The Standard
Tuesday, September 15, 2009

A flat at The Masterpiece in Tsim Sha Tsui has been sold for HK$30,025 per square foot - a record high for a one- bedroom flat.

A local businessman paid HK$24.5 million for the 816 sq ft apartment for his own use, Centaline Property Agency said yesterday.

"Single-bedroom homes have been selling really well since prices are relatively low," said Thomas Lee Pui- cheung, Centaline regional sales director. "There is also only one such unit on each floor."

Lee said fewer than 20 one-bedroom flats remain to be sold, some of which face Lei Yue Mun.

The businessman who bought the record-making flat is reported to like the location of the luxury project jointly developed by New World Development (0017) and the Urban Renewal Authority.

The building with 345 apartments is at 18 Hanoi Road, close to Tsim Sha Tsui Station. On September 4, a buyer paid HK$150 million, or HK$36,693 psf, to buy a 4,088 sqf apartment on a high floor. The price psf was the fourth highest for luxury apartments in Hong Kong.

Last Friday, New World Development announced it expects to sell 24 mid- level homes ranging from 842 to 2,052 sqf at HK$15,300 to 24,200 psf.

Riding on the luxury property market boom, Cheung Kong (Holdings) (0001) said it will sell Celestial Heights Phase 2 in Ho Man Tin on Saturday at the earliest from HK$11,000 psf.

The developer will also reserve flats on Thursday for buyers who intend to purchase a whole floor of three-bedroom units, expected to cost upward of HK$87 million.

Agents keen despite Masterpiece's low fee
Walter Kwok back in the frame as investor Wharf project to fit in Tang/Song relics
9 September 2009
South China Morning Post

Walter Kwok Ping-sheung, who was ousted as chairman and chief executive of Sun Hung Kai Properties in May last year by board members including his two brothers, is back in business on his own account.

Ah Pak understands that Kwok has set up a private property investment business and is on the hunt for acquisition targets from residential and retail to office premises. His return to the industry came as no surprise to Ah Pak, who believes the comeback will please property owners, who will recall with delighted anticipation what an aggressive bidder Kwok was.

In August 2007, when the mainland market peaked, Kwok, representing Sun Hung Kai Properties at the time, engaged in an enthusiastic bidding war with major developers such as Wheelock Properties, Tishman Speyer Properties and Hong Kong Construction for a 13,709 square metre office-retail site in Shanghai. The site eventually went under the hammer to Nanjing Suning Development for a record 4.4 billion yuan (HK$4.99 billion) after Kwok passed with a final bid of 4.3 billion yuan. Nanjing Suning failed to complete the deal, and the site was returned to the Shanghai government.

Time for another tilt at the site?

Developers in Hong Kong may be forced to dig deeper into their pockets and share more of the proceeds of flat sales by way of commissions paid to their sales teams when demand is lacklustre and agents need some extra motivation to secure a deal.

Not so when business is booming and flats just seem to be selling themselves.

Take the case of New World Development.

It succeeded in booking strong sales for its luxury residential project the Masterpiece in Tsim Sha Tsui, even though it paid a commission to agents that was only about half the industry norm.

New World paid agents selling the units in the Masterpiece a commission of just 1.5 per cent of the transaction price, less than the more usual 2 or 3 per cent offered by other major developers.

Despite the lower commission rate, hundreds of property agents still gathered at the sales office with their clients on the sale day.

Enthusiasm perhaps that had something to do with the fact that with unit price tags starting at HK$10 million, closing a deal meant a minimum HK$150,000 in commission.

No wonder New World managed to pull in HK$3.8 billion from the sale of more than 130 units last month.Readers of this column may recall an item published recently about heritage relics being unearthed during excavation work on the Wharf Group's Chengdu development site on the mainland.

History and culture buffs will be delighted to learn that Wharf plans to preserve and incorporate into its development design the remains of the 1,000-year-old Tang/Song Dynasty street it found on the site. The remains of houses and a Buddhist temple and other relics would now be incorporated into an open piazza in the development, Wharf said.

I am interested in this building.

http://esfphoto.midland.com.hk/img.php?wm=mr&src=http://img.midland.com.hk/photo_db/outlook/estate/EE000007348_9.jpg

Masterpiece props up primary home sales
16 September 2009
South China Morning Post

Hong Kong's primary residential market remained relatively quiet during the weekend because of a lack of big property launches. Sixty transactions were concluded at the weekend, down from 65 flats sold a week earlier.

The Masterpiece in Tsim Sha Tsui continued to top the weekend sales chart by securing 17 buyers for its units, which all bear a price tag of more than HK$10 million.

In the secondary real estate market, data compiled by Ricacorp Properties from deals completed at 50 large housing estates shows transactions surged 14.4 per cent to 444 last week from 388 sales in the previous week.

Property agents believe activity in the secondary market will remain at current levels in the next few weeks, because owners are asking for higher prices and many quality flats listed for sale have been digested by the market. According to the Centa-City Leading Index, home prices in the secondary market climbed 2.7 per cent from a week earlier, the fastest weekly growth in 91 weeks.

This lifted the overall price gain to an accumulated 28 per cent so far this year.

Masterpiece to lift NWD spirits
9 October 2009
The Standard

New World Development (0017) expects to collect a total of HK$12 billion from its upmarket residential project The Masterpiece, as net profit for the year ended June 30 plunged 78.5 percent on losses from property revaluation.

``The company raised HK$6.6 billion from selling 231 units [in The Masterpiece] since it was launched in late August and we aim to launch the unsold 114 units by the end of June 2010,'' NWD chairman Henry Cheng Kar-shun said yesterday.

He said the sales from the Tsim Sha Tsui project are tipped to be booked in the current fiscal year.

NWD posted a 78.5 percent decline in net income to HK$2.08 billion due to a HK$1.84 billion loss from property revaluation.

Excluding fair value changes on investment properties, underlying profit slid 6.5 percent to HK$3.57 billion. Earnings per share were 55 HK cents and a final dividend of 21 HK cents was declared.

Revenue dropped 16.8 percent to HK$24.4 billion as most of its business segments fell last year. ``I think home prices will not fall, because of the supply shortage,'' Cheng said. ``As a developer, we are in a hurry to increase our land bank because our profit depends on how many properties we can sell,'' he said. He urged the government to hold land auctions regularly to boost supply of homes so that flat prices rise in a healthier manner.

NWD has a land bank of 4.5 million square feet for immediate development and over 21.5 million sq ft of agricultural land pending conversion.

The net income of New World China Land (0917) tumbled 32.7 percent to HK$1.36 billion, as it posted less fair value gains from property revaluation and less foreign exchange gains.

The underlying profit of the mainland property unit rose 2 percent to HK$1.43 billion, due to a 6 percent hike in property sales and a 13.3 percent growth of rental operation.

NWCL aims to sell a gross floor area of 900,000 square meters this financial year, said Cheng. It also expects to complete properties covering 858,626 square meters, which is 17.9 percent less than a year ago.

Bid to allay fears of sky-high home prices
16 October 2009
The Standard

A leading developer has tried to ease public fears that the record prices for luxury homes will spill over to the mass market, saying the skyrocketing prices are nearing an end.

New World Development (0017) chairman Cheng Yu-tung described Wednesday's world record price for a home as ``a small issue.''

He said many Hong Kong and mainland investors are buying properties in the SAR amid strong liquidity.

Henderson Land Development (0012) sold a 6,158-square-foot duplex at 39 Conduit Road for a staggering HK$71,280 per square foot.

Cheng said there is no property bubble now in the market because ``the majority of buyers pay in cash'' instead of taking out mortgage loans.

He said the recent surge in luxury property prices cannot be sustained. ``It's about to end. Homes cannot reach sky- high prices, can they?'' But he said he did not know whether prices have already reached the peak.

The New World chief said his company will monitor the market to decide whether to raise prices of flats at its upmarket residential project The Masterpiece. The Tsim Sha Tsui development has already bagged one record _ HK$30,000 psf for a single-bedroom flat.

Although Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen said flats are still available at HK$4,000 psf, a veteran property agent said the red-hot upscale sector will affect the mass market. ``Rising prices for luxury properties will inevitably drive up prices in the overall market as they are very likely to be distorted by investors from the mainland,'' said Centaline Property Agency chairman Shih Wing-ching. He suggested the government should consider making some flats available only for Hong Kong permanent residents.

Mass-market apartments are around 20 percent lower from their peak in 1997, but are showing an upward trend. Taking Mei Foo Sun Chuen as an example, the average selling price was HK$3,320 psf in January. Last month, it was more than 25 percent higher at HK$4,194 psf, according to Ricacorp Properites.

However, in areas such as Tai Wai and Tin Shui Wai, some flats are selling for HK$2,000 to HK$3,000 psf.

Opinion : URA and the housing bubble
9 November 2009
SCMP

It is surprising that no correlation is being made between the operations of the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) and the housing bubble that has developed. Some of the obscene prices our chief executive referred to have been reported at URA developments, in particular The Masterpiece in Tsim Sha Tsui.

URA developments are removing thousands of moderate income earners and small businesses from many areas and replacing previously affordable properties with luxury residential towers and shopping malls. One of its ploys in removing tenants is to rehouse them in public housing. This policy is driving people who previously rented on the open market into units that should be allotted to the needy already on the waiting list.

URA management continues to bleat that "our objective is not to make money", so why then it is not building, on some of its sites at least, "no-frills" units without parking facilities, club houses or opulent marble entrances, to be sold at reasonable prices to bona fide Hong Kong residents?

The URA has made so much money this year that HK$500 million is being siphoned off to fund the revamp of Central Market and therefore reduce somewhat the embarrassingly high increase in revenues.

Instead of campaigning for more public housing units and Home Ownership units, our legislators should be taking a long, hard look at the modus operandi of the URA and its revenue-generating schemes.

If the administration believes that providing affordable homes with sales restricted to Hong Kong residents would interfere with the open market, then the URA must be wound down. Through its power to compulsory acquire private property and bundle it into comprehensive development areas so large that they can only be redeveloped by big developers, it is in fact distorting the market in favour of high-priced units that are investment vehicles, not the better homes the URA is mandated to supply.

The URA may have been conceived through good intentions but somewhere along the way it has lost sight of its original goal.

Mary Melville, Tsim Sha Tsui

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This is starting to look better by the day. It looks absolutely gorgeous in those pictures there.

Migrant entry initiative brings city HK$36.6b
12 November 2009
SCMP

The government's migrant investment scheme has seen HK$36.6 billion invested in Hong Kong in the past six years, with the property market accounting for about 30 per cent of overall investment.

Immigration consultants said an increasing number of migrant investors had chosen to invest in property, included luxury flats, in the past year.

In a written reply to Liberal Party lawmaker Miriam Lau Kin-yee yesterday, Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee Siu-kwong said Security Bureau figures showed that HK$36.6 billion had been brought into the city through the government's Capital Investment Entrant Scheme, which started in 2003.

The scheme aims to attract people who can invest at least HK$6.5 million in Hong Kong but do not plan to run a business in the city.

Successful applicants can apply for permanent residence after living here for seven years.

About a third of the investment attracted by the scheme, HK$10.3 billion, went to the property market, with the rest distributed among financial products, including HK$17.6 billion in stocks.

Immigration consultant Eddie Kwan King-hung said the proportion of migrant investor clients who chose to invest in property had increased from 20 per cent last year to 40 per cent this year.

"Mainland investors are interested in buying a landmark luxury flat such as The Cullinan or Masterpiece to show their class if they choose to invest in the property market," Kwan said.

Midland Immigration Consultancy chief executive Thomas Kut said that while some migrant investors would be interested in luxury flats worth more than HK$10 million, many would still like to buy property worth about HK$7 million.

"Migrant investors prefer to select flats in new residential projects which they think are worthy of long-term investment," Kut said.

Since October 2003, the Immigration Department has approved 5,182 applicants and 9,945 dependants under the scheme. Three-quarters of the successful applicants - 3,904 - are Chinese nationals with overseas permanent residence, and 16 per cent, 843, are foreign nationals.

In the first nine months of this year, 2,358 applications were received. There were 1,795 applications in 2007 and 2,798 last year.

Only 53 applications have been refused since the scheme was launched, with the applicants failing to satisfy asset requirements.

The government said the scheme was attractive to investors. It has recently included insurance products as a permissible investment class.

"We will review the scheme from time to time, with a view to improving its attractiveness," Lee said. It is open to foreign nationals, residents of Macau and Taiwan, and other Chinese nationals with residency in a foreign country.

Mainland residents are not eligible to join the scheme. Lee said the government would consider exchanging views with mainland authorities about making the scheme available to such residents.

Stocks ....................................... $17.65b

Property .................................. $10.38b

Debt securities ........................... $5.21b

Collective investment schemes $2.99b

Certificates of deposits ............ $432m

Subordinated debt ..................... $1.5m

Total ........................................ $36.6b

SOURCE: SECURITY BUREAU

nice, as deathstar mentioned, i like it more and more. the height is perfect, wouldn't be that good if it was >350m.

Ad by E60 from hkitalk :

http://www.harrykwan.com/entertainment/photos/26102009/D20_8781.jpg

By khchenghk from dchome :

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The talented Mr Cheng has designs on great malls of China
James Hall meets the Asian retail heir who aims to change the way we shop
19 October 2009
The Daily Telegraph

ADRIAN CHENG has a confident air about him as he strolls through the coffee bar of the luxury Chancery Court Hotel in London's Holborn, hands clasped behind his rod-straight back. He has every right to be assured - his family owns the place.

It also owns The Regent Beverly Wilshire hotel on Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, and the Ascaya in Las Vegas, to name but two outposts of the Cheng empire.

Mr Cheng is the third-generation heir of one of Asia's most influential business families. The family is ranked as the 112th richest in the world by Forbes, with a net worth of over US$7.7bn ( pounds 4.8bn). The dynasty owns a portfolio of companies including the Hong Kong-listed New World Development, one of the Far East's biggest retail, shopping mall and real estate businesses. Mr Cheng, aged 31, runs a bunch of them.

Dressed in a blue blazer with a patterned silk handkerchief bursting from the breast pocket, the flamboyant Harvard graduate looks every part the scion of a mega-rich family. While - as the truism goes - the first generation launch a company and the second generation build it up, the third generation evidently take posture lessons and dress as though they are at Henley.

But Mr Cheng - who has worked at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse - is far from an idle heir. Indeed, with his vast wealth, established domestic power base and expansive ambitions, the baby-faced executive is the embodiment of the new, young, China-led business world order.

And his is a name that we could hear much more about in the UK in the future.

Under Mr Cheng's full or partial control at present are the following; a chain of 870 Chow Tai Fook jewellery stores across Asia, 33 department stores in China, a retail investment company and a company that promotes sports development in China.

On top of this he has launched a luxury goods company to sell European brands in Asia (called Luxuba, which stands for Luxury By Adrian) and is opening a string of eco-friendly shopping malls in China. The first of these giant malls opens in December. It is this latest concept that Mr Cheng is here to talk about, not least because he is planning to open one in London in the future.

He is also in the UK to scout for retailers to put into the Chinese malls and, being the energetic, multi-tasking type, look at some properties "as a warm up activity'' to seeking a location for the London mall.

The company he has founded to build these malls is called K-11 Masterpiece. When the first K11 opens in Hong Kong later this year, he believes that Chinese consumers will have seen nothing like it. The idea is that the environmentally-friendly development - called Tsim Sha Tsui, or "The Masterpiece'' - will be part-shopping centre, part-art gallery, with offices and houses attached.

"Everything is so busy and so fast moving. There is no atmosphere in these places,'' he says. The centre will include a four-storey LED waterfall, and 18 massive windows showcasing local artists. Mr Cheng will add "energy and soul'' to the mall by exhibiting some of his own art collection in it.

A further 10 malls will follow on mainland China; in Beijing and Shenyang among other places. Mr Cheng claims that retailing is "boring''. He explains that it is about energy, nature, being hip and creating an "oasis in a city''. But it also about money. Lots of it. A small 816 sq ft apartment in The Masterpiece - smaller than a tennis court - has just sold for HK$24.5m ( pounds 1.9m or pounds 2,300 per square foot), the record for a one-bedroom flat in Hong Kong.

In rolling out these vast cathedrals to commerce, Mr Cheng is on a mission to take modern retail, up-to-the-minute design and brands to the Chinese masses. And then, in an example of inverse commercial imperialism, bring them back over here.

He has some far-out ideas. For example, the Shenyang mall will contain the world's biggest pet shop and its own basketball court. The centres will also have "urban gardens'' on the roof from which the mall's restaurants will be encouraged to grow the food that they serve.

One burning question springs to mind - are Chinese consumers ready for such high-concept shopping centres? It was, after all, only in the late 1970s that the Cultural Revolution ended and consumerism took root. When The Daily Telegraph visited Shenyang earlier this year, the city did not feel ready for 80ft fake waterfalls. In terms of store environments and consumer behaviour (this paper spent a long time observing how people shopped in supermarkets), the city appeared to be still finding its feet, commercially speaking. Isn't this all a bit high brow?

Mr Cheng insists that China is ready for his vision. "Chinese consumers are richer than they have ever been, and they are soon to become even richer. The farmers are going to the cities and the middle classes are emerging,'' he says.

He says that many shopping centres in China contain one good shop on the ground floor and then "rubbish'' on the floors above. He also points out that Chinese consumers are starting to emerge from the country's recent downturn. Phase two of the country's growth is about to kick off.

"The retail market was really bad in China in the first quarter. We had flat sales. Now there is low growth, and we will have exceptional growth in the next cycle, most likely after June 2010. After that there will be a big growth phase.''

When our interview is over Mr Cheng heads to Westfield, the West London shopping centre, to get some ideas for his own malls.

The future face of retail in China may be young and full of zany ideas, but with the backing of his family's billions and the opening of his first mall weeks away, this is the man who could shape millions of shopping habits in the world's most populous nation.

So according to the above writer, TST is the name of the development not of the location. LOL.

I was very surprised the Daily Telegraph gave so much room for this guy!

First posted by Kaitak747 in : http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=758794

K11
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Eh...

Eh...

I like the exterior space connecting the 2 streets. That was well executed, but the interiors are nothing special.

K11三大玄素
http://the-sun.on.cc/img/logo_tsn.png
2009年12月14日(一)

6 storey-high shopping mall emphasizes at, people, and nature. A lot of Eastern philosophical elements were incorporated in the design, sure as fire, wood, and ground.

There are 19 artistic displays, with $20 million spent on works of art, emphasizing nature.

位於尖沙咀河內道，樓高六層、佔地34萬方呎，連接香港凱悅酒店及豪宅名鑄的K11藝術購物中心，強調「藝術、人文、自然」三大原生元素，原來當中蘊含了不少東方哲學的思想。於哈佛大學唸東亞文學及文化出身的鄭志剛表示，藝術好比「火」、人文則代表「木」，自然則寓意「土」，於中國「五行並生」概念中，正好是「土生木、木生火」。

K11內設置了19組藝術展覽窗櫥，並斥資2,000萬元購買了13件本地藝術家的作品，有關作品都以自然為主題。

K11又引入了有不同民族特色的餐廳如羅曼門島菜，以及不同具生活品味的商戶品牌和概念店。K11共擺放了100組樹，務求與文化休閒區天幕透入的陽光融合，讓人有置身都市綠洲的感覺。

nevertheless, looks nice, i like the relatively tight spacing, which is at least something of a departure of huge malls that we're getting in HK.

For some reason the interior reminds me of the place by the harbour in TST, is it New World Centre?

NWD sets US$1b for art malls
18 December 2009
The Standard

New World Development (0017) plans to invest US$1 billion (HK$7.8 billion) to open seven art malls _ shopping centers that feature art pieces _ in the mainland over the next five to seven years, said executive director Adrian Cheng Chi-kong.

The developer plans to expand the concept of art malls, after opening the first one, K11, yesterday in Hong Kong. The next K11 will open in Wuhan around June and another one will open in Shanghai in 2011, said Cheng.

Cheng expects measures by the mainland to cool the property market to have only a slight impact on NWD's mainland property unit, New World China Land (0917).

NWD executive director Stewart Leung Chi-kin believes Beijing may rein in mortgage loans. On Hong Kong property prices, Leung said a rise of 10 percent more is still acceptable.

NWD invested HK$3 billion in K11 in Hong Kong, Cheng said. The occupancy rate is 80 percent. The general retail area in the mall has been leased at more than HK$250 a square foot, while food and beverage rents are between HK$50 and HK$80 psf.

Average spending per customer is forecast at HK$1,700 to HK$1,800, Cheng said, adding that 65 percent of the shops are brands coming to Hong Kong for the first time.

The art mall displays 32 sets of art _ 13 sets were bought by NWD for HK$20 million and the rest are for sale.

The 340,000-square-foot six-story mall features a 36-meter wide giant curved wall that doubles as a projection screen, a 11.8-meter high waterfall and maple trees.

The mall is connected to the Hyatt Regency Hong Kong, Tsim Sha Tsui and residential project The Masterpiece.

http://www.globalphotos.org/hongkong/2009/1213/IMG_4281.jpg

'Art mall' opens, but none of the works are for sale
18 December 2009
South China Morning Post

It is the new home for more than 100 shops selling a range of goods and more than 20 restaurants serving a variety of international cuisines. But there is one thing this shopping arcade, branded "the world's first art mall", does not sell - art.

K11 opened yesterday on the bottom six floors of The Masterpiece in Hanoi Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, a HK$3 billion project jointly developed by New World Development and the Urban Renewal Authority (URA). One of The Masterpiece's flats was sold for more than HK$30,000 per square foot in September.

The mall features a HK$20 million permanent collection of 13 works by local artists, as well as an exhibition called Hiking Arte, showcasing more than 20 pieces including installations, photographs and paintings by eight artists in eye-catching spots.

But none of the pieces is for sale. And there are no galleries selling art, either. During a press tour yesterday, the first thing introduced to journalists was not the art pieces exhibited in the 340,000 sq ft floor space; they were shown the shop window of jewellery store Chow Tai Fook.

When asked why K11 called itself an art mall, why it had no art galleries and how it differentiated itself from other shopping malls such as Times Square or Langham Place, which have been commissioning local artists, neither K11's marketing department nor public relations agency returned calls.

A URA spokesman said the authority was only responsible for acquiring the land and monitoring property sales; New World Development was in charge of the mall's development and marketing. He said the authority imposed no restrictions on how much space was for art.

"However, we are planning to make use of the locations co-developed with our joint-venture partners, such as Langham Place and New Millennium Plaza, to promote the local art scene. We are still exploring the details but we are planning for events taking place during the first quarter of next year," the spokesman said.

Nevertheless, artists exhibiting at K11 still have big ambitions for the future and hope the mall can live up to its reputation in the long run.

Man Fung-yi, whose sculptures are among the permanent collection, appreciated the mall's focus on the local art scene and the developer's dedication to art.

She believed that a greater variety of stores, such as more arts- and culture-related stores, would be possible in the mall eventually.

Renowned young painter Lam Tung-pang, who has four pieces exhibiting on the mall's top level, said it was a good start for a mall focusing on Hong Kong art.

He said he enjoyed working with the mall through a curator, which was a system different from that adopted by other malls.

"This is definitely a new trend," Lam said, adding that the government was showing increasing support for arts and culture. He also hoped for a fine-tuning of tenant mix in future, such as more shops devoted to arts and culture.

1/9

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thanks for the update. this buildings has grown on me, in the beginning i didn't like it so much...

By simanchan from dchome :

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31/1

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iZAiask,

anyone else find this artifical city familiar? from caprica, new tv show

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f245/gayjedi/06-Caprica-City.jpg

A feature from a local magazine :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/asiaglobe/hongkong/k11-32.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/asiaglobe/hongkong/k11-33.jpg

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/asiaglobe/hongkong/k11-36.jpg

Source : Weekend Magazine

Hmm... I should start watching Caprica

http://i491.photobucket.com/albums/rr280/ericishim/2010%20Hong%20Kong/CIMG3084.jpg

First posted in http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1064519 by hellospank25 :

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/2361/p1020979f.jpg

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/6448/p1020977.jpg

^^ looking good!

Chinese New Year Decorations - from U Magazine :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/asiaglobe/hongkong/utravel-k11.jpg

^^ That's crazy.

How The Masterpiece came to feature in a changing landscape
17 February 2010
SCMP

When The Masterpiece made headlines in September for the record-setting sale of the smallest flat in the project - an 816 square foot, one-bedroom unit that fetched HK$24.5 million - the project was a far cry from the original concept floated by the Land Development Corporation (LDC) in 1997.

At the time the body - now defunct - announced that it planned to turn the rundown neighbourhood into a commercial block with public open space and underground parking.

Fast forward to March 2004, when the master plan was approved by the Town Planning Board.

By then a joint venture between New World and the Urban Renewal Authority, which took over from the LDC in 2001, the development - dubbed K11 - had become a mix of hotel, shops and serviced apartments, with the latter taking up the lion's share of the space.

The 67-storey tower is the second-highest residential building in Hong Kong, behind The Cullinan in West Kowloon, which is one storey higher.

Even more remarkable is the fact that the development, with its 345 flats, sits in an area zoned for purely commercial purposes - not incompatible with the original concept for the 7,600 square metre site of offices and a mall, but at odds with its present incarnation.

The master plan for hotel, shops and serviced apartments was approved by the Town Planning Board in March 2004, the Development Bureau said. New World and the URA made two minor amendments to the scheme in June that year and in June 2005 - both approved by the board. New World and the URA had earlier abandoned a harbour-friendly design by US architectural firm Leo A. Daly.

Veteran architect Patrick Lau Sau-shing, a member of the board from 1998 to 2006 and a former vice-chairman, said he could not specifically recall the planning application for K11. But he believed the project had gained extra floor space because the application was made for a purely commercial development.

Lau said he would file a question to the Legislative Council, asking the Planning Department to explain why the site was now zoned as commercial. "There are residential flats. The current zoning cannot reflect the genuine nature of the development. They should correct their mistake by making it a commercial and residential neighbourhood," he said.

While the project was awarded a plot ratio of more than 12, Lau said such a development in Kowloon should not be given a ratio of more than 10. Plot ratio defines the total floor area of buildings permitted to be erected on a site. It is calculated by dividing the net floor area of all buildings on the site by the net site area.

Kim Chan Kim-on, vice-president of the Hong Kong Institute of Planners, said: "Developers should get a maximum plot ratio of nine for composite buildings in Kowloon."

Ada Wong Ying-kay, a member of the Development Bureau's committee reviewing the city's redevelopment strategy, said the case showed how social mission had been sacrificed for profit in urban renewal. She believed the URA's involvement had made it easier for the project to gain planning permission because it commanded high respect from planners and officials.

"Instead of serving the public by regenerating their living environment, the URA becomes a developer and creates gentrification," she said.

Redevelopment of K11 was launched in 1997. That year, the LDC sought Town Planning Board approval to pull down 20 ageing blocks on the 7,600 square metre site around Hanoi Road to build offices and a mall. In a plan gazetted on June 6, 1997, the site was designated for commercial development. The outline zoning plan for Tsim Sha Tsui, dated June 1997, stated that it was planned to develop the site for commercial use with public open space and underground parking for buses. A year after the two statutory plans were unveiled to the public, the LDC invoked the Lands Resumption Ordinance to evict unco-operative property owners.

The project was also the first and only public-sponsored redevelopment that allowed property owners' participation. By November 1998, it was clear that most of the properties were owned by New World. Instead of issuing a tender to seek joint-venture partners, the LDC formed a joint venture with New World.

New World first announced the plan to build serviced apartments in September, 1999. The previous plan for an office block of 980,000 sq ft was revised to include 490,882 sq ft of serviced apartments. The rest was to be used for shops and offices.

Shortly before New World unveiled the serviced apartments plan, the Lands Department removed restrictions on sales of serviced apartments after lobbying by the Real Estate Developers Association. The department's move allowed developers to sell such apartments. The serviced apartment plan was approved by the Town Planning Board two months later.

Planning arrangements in force at the time treated serviced apartments "akin to hotels rather than residential flats in terms of building design and operational characteristics". They were allowed to be built to densities usually reserved for commercial towers rather than the lower density adopted for residential projects.

The Lands Department decision to legitimise selling of serviced apartments came as the Town Planning Board issued guidelines in September 1999. These stated: "For sites subject to adverse environmental constraints, such as areas exposed to industrial/residential or road/residential interface problems, serviced apartment development will play the role of an environmental buffer between the pollution source and other sensitive issues, such as residential. These sites are usually not suitable for residential development but subject to the provision of appropriate mitigation measures - for example installation of central air-conditioning systems, doubled-glazed windows and central management, serviced apartment development could be considered acceptable."

The board's previous guidelines, issued in December 1990, on serviced apartments took a tougher stance. They specified that these apartments were "establishments providing residential accommodation for leasing purposes". The term "serviced apartment" was scrapped from the guidelines in 2000, several months after New World's project was approved.

At least one other major development - Hutchison Whampoa's Rambler Crest in Tsing Yi - includes serviced apartment projects sold as though it was a residential development. Hutchison applied for Town Planning Board approval to build a hotel and serviced apartment development in July 1999. Approval was given in November that year and the flats were sold in the summer of 2003.

Nicholas Brooke, a veteran surveyor and former Town Planning Board member, said he remembered there was a great deal of concern at the time among board members and officials about developers submitting schemes branded as serviced apartments, which "looked to all intents and purposes" like residential apartments, and securing a commercial plot ratio with no guarantee that they would be maintained as serviced apartments.

He said the government no longer formally recognised the term "serviced apartment" in leases and other documents because of potential confusion as to what, exactly, it meant.

Mary Muvlihill, a long-time resident of Tsim Sha Tsui, asked how the government could allow developers to sell serviced apartments, adding that there must be a way to stop this.

URA considers monitoring sales practices of project partners
26 February 2010
South China Morning Post

The Urban Renewal Authority says it will consider closer monitoring of the sales practices of its partner developers after a lawmaker warned of possible market manipulation with regard to the sale of flats at a luxury residential project.

The authority responded after a newspaper reported relatives of Henry Cheng Kar-shun, managing director of New World Development, bought flats in The Masterpiece, a luxurious project jointly developed by the authority and the company.

The paper said Cheng's son, cousin and uncle bought at least seven flats in the name of several companies, including offshore ones, rather than use their personal identities.

The flats were bought in August last year, each selling for between HK$16 million and HK$49 million, a few days after the project went on sale, the report said.

A spokeswoman for New World Development declined to comment, but its executive director, Stewart Leung Chi-kin, said at a public event yesterday the purchases did not violate any stock market listing rules, as the prices were under the limit beyond which a listed company must disclose transactions involving people connected with the company.

"If it's not a Cheng family member but friends, we will sell [the flats] all the same," Leung said.

Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah said the government noted the report and would study the issue.

The Democratic Party's spokesman on housing, Lee Wing-tat, said the records made him suspect someone was trying to "manipulate the market". He cited the price list for the first batch of Masterpiece flats, issued on August 29, giving a price of HK$28,000 per square foot for a flat of about 600 square feet. Two weeks later, after the purported purchases, the developer put a flat of that size but a floor higher on sale at HK$33,000 a square foot, a 17 per cent increase.

"It seems the purchases helped create an impression that the property was very much sought-after, boosting prices," Lee said.

He urged the authority to monitor partners to check whether their staff or relatives bought flats in a joint project, as the authority had to give approval to its own staff if they wanted to buy a flat it built.

An authority spokesman said rules did not allow the authority to monitor its partner to see if its staff or family bought the flats on the open market, but "we will leave the board to discuss Lee's suggestion".

URA endorsed flat prices, developer says
9 March 2010
South China Morning Post

Tycoon Henry Cheng Kar-shun says the high prices for flats in the Masterpiece development were endorsed by the Urban Renewal Authority.

The managing director of New World Development was responding to accusations that he had manipulated sales. His comments followed a report in a Chinese-language newspaper yesterday, which quoted him as saying the URA had insisted on higher prices than those proposed by the company.

Earlier this month Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Wing-tat accused New World of manipulating sales of the Masterpiece, a Tsim Sha Tsui project co-developed by Cheng's company and the authority, by selling at least seven of the first 30 flats released in August to Cheng's relatives. It was reported that Cheng's son, cousin and uncle had bought seven flats in the name of several firms, including offshore ones, with each valued at between HK$16 million and HK$49 million.

Cheng said yesterday that the price was fixed according to the market situation after negotiations with the URA.

He said his company did hold a different view from the authority regarded price-setting but refused to say whether the authority proposed a higher price. He said different surveyors would come up with different prices, adding the authority should trust developers who monitored the market every day.

A URA spokesman said it appointed an independent surveyor to recommend a market price after the authority and New World formed different views. "The price was approved by the authority, but it was a market price. We have to ensure the selling price is aligned with the market to avoid speculation on flats."

The authority as a public body should avoid deploying strategies to fuel the market, he said.

It is a common strategy for developers to sell flats in small batches. A lower price is usually set for for the first batch, with prices rising when further flats are released.

Lee said Cheng's response was not convincing. "The issue lies in the potential benefits gained by Cheng and his relatives, which he did not directly respond to."

New World could have benefited from selling to Cheng's relatives as it stoked the market, he said, urging the government to review sale practices.

LCQ6: Redevelopment project at Hanoi Road in Tsim Sha Tsui
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Government Press Release

Following is a question by the Hon Wong Sing-chi and a reply by the Secretary for Development, Mrs Carrie Lam, in the Legislative Council today (March 10):

Question:

The redevelopment and planning processes of the redevelopment project at Hanoi Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, which was jointly undertaken by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) and a private developer, as well as the circumstances surrounding the sales of its flats, have recently aroused public concern. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council, given that it has been reported that:

(a) the Town Planning Board (TPB) has approved a change of land use of the redevelopment site from commercial use to commercial/residential use, and permitted a high plot ratio of 12.366 for the project, which is higher than the plot ratio of 10 or 9 generally granted to sites for commercial/residential use, whether it knows TPB's justifications for making such decisions, why the sale of serviced apartments under the project was permitted, whether the permission for the sale of such apartments has violated any requirement or guideline, and whether this is at variance with the general procedure for approval;

(b) the aforesaid developer has entered into a partnership with URA's predecessor, the Land Development Corporation (LDC), to implement the project in its capacity as an owner affected by the redevelopment, and that among the urban redevelopment projects undertaken by LDC or URA, this is so far the only project in which participation by an affected owner is allowed, whether it knows why the owner is permitted to participate in the project, why the project partner was not determined through public tender, and whether the relevant principles or reasons will be applicable to future redevelopment projects; and

(c) some companies which are connected with the major shareholder of the developer have purchased several residential units under the project during the initial sale in the open market, but the transaction details have never been disclosed, whether the authorities will check all information concerning the property transactions under the project to find out if there are other similar purchases, and investigate the incident to ascertain if the developer has made use of the above purchase to produce confusing market information so as to attract buyers to purchase other residential units under the project?

Reply:

President,

The redevelopment project at Hanoi Road was announced for implementation by the former Land Development Corporation (LDC) in 1997. This uncompleted project was taken over by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) when it was established in May 2001.

My reply to the three-part question is as follows:

(a) The Town Planning Board (TPB) gazetted the Development Scheme Plan of the LDC Hanoi Road Project in Tsim Sha Tsui as early as May 1995. The area was designated "Comprehensive Development Area" (CDA). According to the Notes of the relevant Development Scheme Plan, the maximum development plot ratio was 12. The Notes did not impose any restriction on the ratio between the domestic plot ratio and the non-domestic plot ratio within the development plot ratio of 12. The Development Scheme Plan was approved by the TPB in accordance with the prevailing procedures. In October 2003, the TPB rezoned this CDA site and the adjacent site originally zoned "Commercial" to be "Comprehensive Development Area (1)" (CDA(1)). Apart from maintaining a similar maximum gross floor area (GFA) under the aforementioned plot ratio, the Notes of the plan also stated that bonus floor area could be granted under the circumstances specified in Section 22(1) or (2) of the Building (Planning) Regulations.

At present, the plot ratio of the completed redevelopment project is 12.366, which includes the GFA of the CDA(1) zone, as well as a bonus GFA equivalent to a plot ratio of 0.366 (about 3,000 square metures) granted under Section 22(1) of the Building (Planning) Regulations that I mentioned just now in return for the dedication of the street frontage along Mody Road, Hanoi Road and Carnarvon Road as a public passage. The bonus GFA is to compensate the building set-back for the provision of a widened pavement for use as a public passage.

The lease conditions of the development project were made with reference to the Master Layout Plan approved by the TPB. The land use of the project as approved by the TPB includes hotel, retail facilities and service apartment. Generally speaking, except for special purposes such as hotel, hospital, social welfare and petro-filling station, there is generally no alienation restriction on properties in land leases, or sales on an individual unit basis. In drawing up the lease conditions for the development project at Hanoi Road, the Lands Department imposed alienation restriction on the part of the hotel in line with the prevailing practice. In other words, no alienation restriction was imposed on the service apartment of the project.

According to the financial arrangement between the Government and the URA, it has to pay full land premium at market value to the Lands Department in respect of development projects commenced by the former LDC. The URA has paid full land premium for the GFA allowed in the land lease, including the bonus GFA granted under section 22(1) of the Building (Planning) Regulations.

In other words, the plot ratio of the above project and the sale of service apartment under the project have not violated any applicable requirements or guidelines at the time. The project was also approved in accordance with normal procedures.

Based on the explanation above, it can be seen from the planning history of this project that it has not involved any rezoning of the area from "Commercial" to "Commercial/Residential". But in line with the prevailing practice of the TPB, when a project located in a CDA zone is completed, the relevant area will be rezoned for the most compatible use under the relevant Outline Zoning Plan. According to this principle, the TPB rezoned the area from CDA(1) to "Commercial (10)" on March 20, 2009.

(b) Prior to the redevelopment project at Hanoi Road, the former LDC has also proposed the introduction of an Owner Participation Scheme for more than 180 owners at the acquisition stage of the H1 project at Queen Street, Sheung Wan (now known as Queen's Terrace). However, in view of the lukewarm response to the proposal from the owners, the former LDC decided to abandon the Owner Participation Scheme in favour of a public tender to identify a joint venture partner. It can therefore be seen that the Hanoi Road Redevelopment Project was not the only project for which the LDC had considered implementing an Owner Participation Scheme.

According to information obtained from the URA, when the LDC launched the Hanoi Road project, all the affected owners were invited to participate in the Owner Participation Scheme. Among the 143 property interest owners affected by the project, 70 participated in the Owner Participation Scheme; 64 accepted cash compensation; while the remaining nine rejected both the Owner Participation Scheme and the cash compensation. Eventually, the LDC applied to the Government to invoke the Lands Resumption Ordinance to resume the remaining interests in November 1998.

The 70 property interest owners who participated in the Owner Participation Scheme were related to ten companies, including the present developer of the project. Through transfer of company shares, the related companies of the developer successfully gained control of all the ten companies within a short period of time. At the end, only the related companies of the developer and the LDC were left to jointly implement the Owner Participation Scheme. In terms of the value of properties held, the developer’s share of the project accounted for 80%, while the LDC only 20%.

We have enquired with the URA on whether there was not a public tender to determine the project partner at that time and learned that the arrangement was determined by the LDC prior to the establishment of the URA. The Board of the LDC had subsequently discussed the matter and considered that as the related companies of the developer in this project held 80% of the value of the properties, the project should be developed by the developer.

We are conducting a review on the urban renewal strategy. The feasibility and justifications of owner participation is one of the many topics under review.

(c) As with other redevelopment projects of the URA, the pricing of all the residential units of the redevelopment project "The Masterpiece" at Hanoi Road in Tsim Sha Tsui must be approved by one of the partners in the development project, that is, the URA. The URA has also engaged two independent international valuers to conduct the valuation to ensure that the pricing of the units is in line with the market price. The developer must put up the units for sale at prices approved by the URA. No one will be offered any concession or discount when purchasing these units. The developer has also followed the prevailing practice agreed between the Government and the Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong to publish the price list of units before sale.

It is not specified in the Owner Participation Agreement signed by the URA and the developer that at the stage of public sale of the flats under the project, buyers must disclose their identities to the URA or seek approval from the URA beforehand. However, in view of the concerns expressed by the community and some LegCo members, the URA will discuss with its Board to see if the existing regulatory measures applicable to the URA staff in the purchase of flats under URA projects (that is, in case any staff member who wishes to buy flats under the URA projects, he has to seek written consent from the Managing Director) should be extended to its joint venture partners, and in particular, the members of the board of directors, the senior management and staff involved in the sale of the subject flats of its joint venture partner.

May 9, 2006
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impresionante...pero se esta quedandol en relacion con otras ciudades arabes y asiaticas.................aunque sigue siendo un paraiso esta bellisima ciudad:nuts::nuts::)

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Source : http://www.flickr.com/photos/clementqc/4410652459/in/set-72157617860385963/

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2701/4410652459_ba65d966f9_o.jpg

superb shot, great addition to the skyline.

By tkc from a Hong Kong photography forum :

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