Kowloon Bay Redevelopment

[van_gogh]

Hopewell will be demolishing it's HITEC building in Kowloon Bay to make way for a new a shopping center named EMax. It would probably compliment Kerry's MegaBox development in the same area. We will have more informationa and probably renderings this Tuesday, Oct 10, when Hopewell hosts a press release for this project.

[hkskyline]

I wonder why didn't they try to market HITEC as an alternative convention centre? There is a lot of demand for new exhibition space in HK.

[van_gogh]

I guess the location is not too ideal for exhibition. If I remember correctly, they have had comic fair there before, but it was reverted back to Wan Chai. Besides, Hopewell can probabaly earn a lot more if they build something else there since Kowloon Bay is going to be a new downtown. I hope that EMax would turn out to be something good.

[hkskyline]

Isn't HITEC fairly new, too? I don't think it was well-used since its inception.

[vvill]

Originally Posted by hkskyline

Isn't HITEC fairly new, too? I don't think it was well-used since its inception.

that's because it's so poorly built.

the look of it reminds you of an early 90's development with a late 90's peach-colour theme.

[Manila-X]

Originally Posted by van_gogh

I guess the location is not too ideal for exhibition. If I remember correctly, they have had comic fair there before, but it was reverted back to Wan Chai. Besides, Hopewell can probabaly earn a lot more if they build something else there since Kowloon Bay is going to be a new downtown. I hope that EMax would turn out to be something good.

Yup because I always attend that comic book convention.

Anyway, any design of the new shopping mall?

[hkskyline]

Had Kai Tak still been operational, HITEC would have a much better chance of survival. Now it is just in the middle of nowhere, although Kowloon Bay is seeing quite a dramatic revival lately.

[van_gogh]

When I first read the news from Orientaldaily, they said that Hopewell would demolish it. Now, it is mentioned that they are just going to renovate it. I am very disappointed.

[hkskyline]

I think it makes more sense to renovate. It costs a lot of money to demolish and redo the foundation up.

[vvill]

Originally Posted by van_gogh

When I first read the news from Orientaldaily, they said that Hopewell would demolish it. Now, it is mentioned that they are just going to renovate it. I am very disappointed.

i know - hope they'll do something to the exterior as well!

[Kaitak747]

HITEC Building is one of the most ugly buildings I ever seen, it should be demolished without remorse.

I'm so disppointed to hear that they are just planning to renovate it, hopefully it would turn out nice.

[hkskyline]

Kowloon East offices attract plenty of tenants
International companies on the island are crossing the harbour to take up cheaper spaces in brand new buildings
31 January 2007
South China Morning Post

Japanese-based Ricoh Corp and Parsons Brinkeroff of New York will relocate their offices from decentralised districts on Hong Kong Island to One Kowloon, a newly completed building in Kowloon East.

Lured by cheaper rents and brand new office space, the two will lease a total area of 180,000 square feet at One Kowloon, developed by Glorious Sun Enterprises, sources said.

The office spaces they will lease are similar in size to their existing premises.

The rent, which they were negotiating, was expected to be close to HK$20 per square foot but was still 14 to 40 per cent lower than what they were paying at their existing offices, agents said.

Ricoh Hong Kong, the local arm of Ricoh Corp, would leave Tai Yau Building in Wan Chai and move to an 80,000 sqft office in One Kowloon, while Parsons Brinkeroff, an international planning and engineering company, was relocating from AIA in North Point to take up 100,000 sqft of office at One Kowloon, sources said.

The deals are expected to be signed before Lunar New Year.

Jones Lang LaSalle, the marketing agent for the project, refused to comment on the leasing.

One Kowloon provides a total floor area of about 700,000 sqft, including 30,000 sqft of retail space. It also has about 250 parking spaces.

The occupation permit was granted last month.

Jones Lang LaSalle had earlier said that more than 13 floors of office space had been taken by the end of last year.

One Kowloon has attracted many office tenants who have long resided on the Island side. More than 50 per cent of the tenants in One Kowloon were from Hong Kong Island, Fiona Ngan, the head of markets at Jones Lang LaSalle, said earlier.

In its latest research report, Jones Lang LaSalle said competitive rentals and the completion of new supply contributed to a relative increase in demand for grade A offices in Kowloon East in the fourth quarter.

Demand came mostly from cost-sensitive tenants moving or establishing secondary offices. With the rental gap between grade A offices and non-grade A/industrial office buildings in Kowloon East narrowing over the past few months, upgrading demand had become more apparent, the report said.

For instance, Bausch & Lomb and Maersk have moved to One Kowloon from offices on Hong Kong Island, while Phillips Van Heusen Far East and WKK have upgraded into the new building from non-grade A offices in Tsim Sha Tsui and industrial offices in Kwun Tong, respectively.

Meanwhile, DHL has become the second-largest tenant to pre-commit to the forthcoming Enterprise Square 5, which is now more than 75 per cent pre-committed.

Desmond Poon Chi-ming, an associate director at Chartersince Surveyors, said One Kowloon was finding it easier to get tenants as it was one of the first among a number of buildings to be completed in Kowloon East.

But he said the district would feel pressure on rents and some landlords were expected to adopt a rent-cut strategy to attract tenants. Most of the supply will come next year and in 2009.

Kowloon East, which comprises Kowloon Bay and Kwun Tong, is expected to be Hong Kong's third-largest office market with a supply of 10 million sqft by 2010, compared with about five million sqft now, according to Savills' data.

[hkskyline]

Decentralised hubs make for liveable city
19 April 2007
South China Morning Post

With plans under way to turn Kowloon Bay and Kwun Tong into Hong Kong's third-largest commercial district by 2010, the market is decentralising to compensate for the lack of large floor-plate commercial stock in our central business district.

This is good news for Hong Kong, as creating new business districts is the first step to easing the market pressures caused by soaring office rents, shortage of land, and traffic congestion in Central. Prospective tenants will be provided with more price and space options, which will help improve Hong Kong's competitiveness and efficiency.

Yet this trend is about much more than just providing office space. It is a golden opportunity to help create a more liveable Hong Kong.

Cities such as Tokyo, New York and Barcelona have all achieved success through decentralising their business districts as an urban planning and economic development strategy, yet Hong Kong is unlike any of these places. In our case, the harbour presents a significant barrier to the connectivity of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. There are currently only three road crossings, two rail crossings and nine ferry crossings. Although these address some of the key commuting flows, they are insufficient for business travel.

To expand the CBD successfully throughout the shorelines, we need to minimise point-to-point travel time with a dramatic increase in the array of cross-harbour transportation, including additional rail, road and ferry crossings, as well as water taxis and small vessel services.

By thoroughly interconnecting the shores of Victoria Harbour from Kwai Chung to Kwun Tong and from Kennedy Town to Shau Kei Wan, the entire harbour district can in essence become the CBD of the Pearl River Delta. Central can be allowed to breathe again.

We must recognise the topographic reality of Hong Kong and its natural constraints to development. Central is the narrowest part of the land available for development along the shores of Victoria Harbour. Gridlock and an increasing choking of the area have been the repercussions of packing too much in too little space.

Extending the web of the CBD will divert development and congestion away from the choke points. New market opportunities will appear in newly-connected areas as competition increases with easier access, while interesting new uses of land sprout up and mix in with commercial areas to create a better live-work-play balance.

The spreading of development will create places of attraction for residents and tourists alike along the entire north and south shorelines. These areas will bolster the limited tourist zones we have and increase our capacity to entertain more visitors. And the variety of water-borne transportation will themselves become tourist attractions, turning Victoria Harbour into an exciting hub for business, tourism and recreation in the Pearl River Delta.

Paul Zimmerman is convenor of Designing Hong Kong Harbour District

[hkskyline]

Skyline Tower rents surge 140pc
25 April 2007
South China Morning Post

Sino Land says rents at its grade A office building Skyline Tower in Kowloon Bay have surged as much as 140 per cent for leases up for renewal in June.

Most of these agreements were signed during the economic slump and Sars crisis in 2003.

"Office rents in Kowloon Bay still have further room for increase," said Allan Chan, an associate director at Sino Land.

These were the first batch of leases expiring, which accounted for more than half of the one million square foot Skyline Tower.

Mr Chan declined to disclose the rate being achieved for the renewals but said the old leases were HK$7 to HK$10 per square foot.

The current asking monthly rents at Skyline Tower was HK$20 per square foot, he said.

"We've got lots of old tenants asking for more space for in-house expansion, with some wanting to expand their offices to 40,000 sqft from 10,000 sqft," Mr Chan said. Besides Skyline Tower, Sino Land is also developing two other grade A office projects in Kowloon Bay.

The company is in talks with potential tenants at another grade A office development at the junction of Sheung Yuet Road and Wang Chiu Road, also in Kowloon Bay. In 2005, the group paid HK$1.82 billion for the site in a government land auction.

Mr Chan said the 700,000 sq ft office project in Sheung Yuet Road, which is due for completion by June next year, was in a pre-leasing stage, but the rents had not yet been finalised.

He said the potential new office supply in East Kowloon would not put pressure on rents as they would not all be put on the market at the same time.

"Some new office projects have already leased 70 per cent of their space even before completion," Mr Chan said, adding that demand for quality office buildings in the area remained high.

The company also plans to redevelop the Po Hing Centre industrial building, also in Kowloon Bay, into a 400,000 sq ft grade A office and expects to complete the project within two years.

[hkskyline]

DHL takes space at Enterprise Square
16 May 2007
South China Morning Post

Freight and logistics company DHL International has agreed to lease seven floors of Tower One in Kerry Properties' Enterprise Square Five in Kowloon Bay.

The new premises, comprising 120,000 square feet of gross floor area, will become the Hong Kong base for DHL Express, with about 800 employees expected to move in at the end of the year.

The Enterprise Square Five complex on Wang Chiu Road has a gross area of 1.6 million sqft. It comprises two office towers and MegaBox - East Kowloon's largest shopping complex with 19 floors of shopping space.

Kerry Properties did not disclose rents for the site, but property agents said the asking price for office space was between HK$23 and HK$25 per square foot per month.

Kerry Real Estate Agency executive director Chu Ip-pui said that with the proposed redevelopment plan for the former Kai Tak airport site, it was expected that Kowloon Bay would become a prime office location for East Kowloon.

Property consultants said the area would fast become a focus in the leased office space market as Hong Kong's steep rents force companies to move to cheaper districts.

Last year, Hang Seng Bank took an early lead in the district by leasing Tower 2 in Enterprise Square Five.

With Central net effective rents averaging HK$85 per square foot according to DTZ, the bank has 262,000 sqft spread over 15 floors for a fixed term of six years. It has an option to renew for three years.

The company plans to move 1,600 staff from its Hang Seng Building headquarters in Des Voeux Road, Central, by the end of this year.

Kerry Properties is controlled by Kerry Group, the largest shareholder in SCMP Group, which publishes the South China Morning Post.

[hkskyline]

房會擬09年交還政府拍賣
拆九龍灣廠廈靚地值25億
24/11/2007







港府落實東九龍規劃之後，近年九龍灣、觀塘一帶大變身，潮流氣息的商場紛紛取代舊式商廈，房屋委員會亦擬在○九年中清拆區內有三十二年歷史的兩幢九龍灣工廠大廈，然後將地皮歸還政府拍賣，房屋委員會商業樓宇小組下周四將開會討論。由於工廈位於較佳地皮，附近商廈價值不菲，有測量界估計地皮拍賣價值最少可為庫房進帳二十五億元。

房委會現時在九個地區建有工廠大廈，多於七十年代或之前建成，自從本港工業北移之後，不少工廈都異常冷清，環境十分惡劣，加上房署工廈的設備遠低於現代工廈水平，導致單位長期空置。由於有關工廈十分殘舊，每年維修費用逾一億元，但實際收回的租金不多，不符成本效益，房委會認為有必要盡早清拆，避免得不償失。

九龍灣兩幢房委會工廠大廈於一九七五年落成，佔地零點七九公頃，連地下在內樓高七層，屬舊式分層工廠大廈，共有八百零七個單位，但現已十室九空，僅剩不足二百租戶，當中部分更屬受房委會清拆工廈影響而搬遷到該處的租戶。房委會給予租戶十八個月通知期，租戶如租用房委會其他廠廈單位，可獲三個月免租期，每名租戶也可額外獲發特惠津貼。

中原測量師行董事經理黎堅輝指出，隨尠本港經濟向好、金融業暢旺，近年對寫字樓的需求大增，九龍灣工廠大廈位於市區，又鄰近九龍灣企業廣場、九龍灣展貿中心及MegaBox等大型商場，若有關土地推出拍賣，估計可為庫房帶來至少二十五億元收入。

租戶：難覓地方復業
在九龍灣工廠大廈經營機械工程公司的劉先生指出，他之前在房委會的新蒲崗工廠大廈營業，兩年前該工廠大廈宣布清拆，他便透過房委會的安排，搬到九龍灣工廈，劉先生亦有心理準備九龍灣工廈亦會清拆，但他擔心再難找到合適的地方重新復業。他表示，房委會工廈的租金較私人工廈便宜一大截，希望房委會可再安排廠房供他搬遷。

在該工廈一樓經營金屬塑膠製品的區伯則表示，自己公司是第一批進駐該工廈的廠房，至今已有三十多年，對於該工廈將要清拆感到十分悲哀。房屋委員會商業樓宇小組下周四將開會討論九龍灣工廠大廈的清拆事宜，以及檢討明年屬下停車場的租金水平。

[hkskyline]

Skyline towers above rest for saving power and money
Sino Estates' Kowloon Bay office block is a winner thanks to its environmentally friendly curtain wall design
20 November 2007
South China Morning Post

Kowloon Bay's Skyline Tower, a 35-storey office building, was among the first commercial buildings in Hong Kong to be recognised for its energy efficient design.

The curtain wall design of the building, managed by Sino Estates, has a 10,000 sqft roof-top garden to reduce the heat trapped in the building.

Sino Estates introduced integrated air-conditioning control to Skyline Tower last year, using a building management system to monitor the temperature. The air-conditioning system has cut down energy loss, reducing the costs of electricity used by 9.5 per cent. In the car park area and printing rooms, where air circulation is poor, air treatment devices have been installed to filter out air pollutants and eliminate dust.

Skyline Tower has a gross floor area of 909,633 sqft, 333 parking spaces and is now four years old. The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department awarded the company in October last year after it met five codes set under the Hong Kong Energy Efficiency Registration for Buildings Scheme. These codes cover all aspects of energy saving: lighting, electrical installations, air-conditioning, and lift and escalator installations.

There is an additional code based on performance, which focuses on a building's total energy consumption as opposed to the energy budget of a building that meets all the code requirements.

Skyline Tower saved an estimated HK$340,000 last year from various environmentally friendly measures.

Although green factors such as saving energy and protecting the environment are fundamental to the architectural and interior design of the tower, Sino Estates associate director Sunny Yeung Kwong said that without the participation of the tenants saving energy would have been difficult.

"We have kept the message simple and practical when saving energy and recycling," Mr Yeung said. "In the past, our messages were delivered in such a way that they were more focused on the technical issues and scientific facts. So sometimes these messages didn't get across to the tenants. Now we make sure everything is user-friendly."

Skyline Tower has 105 tenants. Since last year, each floor of the tower has been equipped with recycling points to separate different types of waste.

The company collected 24 tonnes of paper for recycling from its tenants last year.

Sino Estates won a gold award for another office building, the 16-year-old Pacific Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui. It has 19 floors and a floor area of 239,583 sqft. There are 69 tenants in the building of which 36 are clinics.

As a result, Sino Estates has centralised the waste collection to ensure the safe disposal of medical waste and syringes.

Sino Estates also won certificates of merit for three other properties under the commercial and industrial buildings category: the Centrium in Central, Sino Plaza in Causeway Bay and Futura Plaza in Kwun Tong.

It also won a certificate of merit for Grand Palisades in Tai Po under the private housing category.

To make sure tenants are aware of the different ways of preventing pollution, Sino Estates issues news bulletin and distributes handouts which offer useful advice, ranging from choosing various versions of energy efficient light bulbs and boilers to encouraging tenants to walk instead of drive. Some of these brochures are distributed by e-mail or e-notice.

Sino Estates also organises many green activities such as supporting organic produce and replanting potted flowers and tangerine plants bought for the Lunar New Year.

Mr Yeung believed these green activities initiated by Sino Estates and its staff would involve the younger generation who would play an important role in protecting the environment in the future.

[Manila-X]

There are already some nice office buildings sprouting around Mega Box. Would expect to see more in the future.

[hkskyline]

Originally Posted by WANCH

There are already some nice office buildings sprouting around Mega Box. Would expect to see more in the future.

There is actually a lot of land available for redevelopment around Megabox. The land immediately north of Megabox is empty right now, while the block after Enterprise Square III (Esprit) is now being filled in with a skyscraper. The Yip On Factory Estate one more block down might be torn down for redevelopment. There's plenty of potential still there for this area.

[hkskyline]

Emperor buys East Kowloon building
15 January 2008
South China Morning Post

Emperor International Holdings has agreed to acquire the Oriental News Building in Kowloon Bay for HK$525 million to capitalise on the anticipated boom for office space in East Kowloon.

The 11-storey industrial property at Wang Tai Road has a total floor area of 311,704 square feet, The accommodation value - the land price in terms of the total planned floor area - is about HK$1,684 per square foot.

Emperor International executive director Donald Cheung Ping-keung said the company was lured by the potential opportunities of East Kowloon, an up-and-coming commercial and retail district.

The property is near the Hong Kong International Trade and Exhibition Centre and large shopping centres such as EMax, MegaBox and Telford Plaza.

It is expected to generate annual rents of HK$28.3 million on completion of the transaction by the end of April. The company will fund the purchase by internal resources and bank financing.

Emperor said it might redevelop the property into an office building.

Wong Leung-sing, associate director of research at Centaline Property Agency said demand for office space in Kowloon, particularly in East Kowloon, was on the rise amid limited available space in Central.

Meanwhile, property consultants Savills said paper manufacturer Leo Paper had leased two storeys or 40,000 sqft of office space in Kerry Properties' Enterprise Square Five in Kowloon Bay.

Quarry Bay on Hong Kong island is another area where companies are setting up their headquarters or back offices, according to agents.

Swire Properties said the occupancy rate of One Island East in Quarry Bay hit 75 per cent two months before completion.

"Of the 1.2 million sqft of office space with which we began our marketing campaign a year ago, just 235,000 sqft remains to be leased," said Stephan Spurr, director and general manager of Swire Properties.

Tenants come from the banking, financial securities and hospitality sectors, including United States investment bank JP Morgan, which said last week that it had rented 11 floors or 240,000 sqft of the building.