[hkskyline]

信置士丹頓樓擬建酒店
2009年07月18日

【本報訊】信置數年前購入的中環士丹頓樓，正不斷探討不同重建發展計劃，日前便向城規會申請興建 1幢精品酒店。

上址位於士丹頓街 20至 26號，地盤面積只約 4611方呎，信置要求以 15倍地積比發展 1幢 33層高的酒店，總樓面約 69165方呎，提供 144間房，平均面積約 420方呎，預計 2012年落成。

信置年前曾就中環士丹頓樓申建寫字樓，但被拒絕；去年中則獲屋宇署批出一份 30層高單幢商住物業的圖則。

另長實或有關人士持有的元朗錦田一幅農地，現申請以 0.4倍地積比率，分兩期發展，先發展其所持有的第一期範圍。第一期佔地約 23.62萬方呎，計劃建 13幢 4層高物業，提供 160伙低密度住宅。

此外，市建局欲分別於旺角上海街和太子道各一列舊樓的保育計劃，所涉及的有關圖則修訂，城規會分別收到 23份及 7份意見。

 

[hkskyline]

Central, Mid-Levels residential sites fetch $400m
7 July 2005
The Standard

Two land purchases in Central and Mid- Levels worth nearly HK$400 million have been made this week as demand for prime residential sites remains robust despite rising mortgage rates.

Kerry Properties agreed to buy a residential development site near the Mid-Levels escalator from Yue Tai Hing Properties and its owners, the Law family, for more than HK$200 million, or about HK$4,400 per square foot.

A spokesperson for Kerry said it plans to build a residential-commercial tower on the vacant site at the junction of 38 Shelley Street and Mosque Junction.

With a plot ratio of about 10 times, the 4,500 sqft site could yield total gross floor area of 45,000 sqft.

Analysts estimate total investment at about HK$250 million, or HK$5,500 psf, including construction and land costs. The project would fetch about HK$300 million, assuming a selling price of about HK$6,500 psf, a profit margin of about 18 percent, they said.

Flat prices in the secondary market along Shelley Street and Mosque Junction now range from HK$4,000 to HK$5,000 psf, lagging the overall Mid-Levels market, Centaline Property Agency said.

Separately, Sino Land bought Staunton House, a residential-commercial building adjacent to Central's SoHo district, for about HK$162 million. General manager for sales Mark Hahn said Sino plans to redevelop the existing building, though the details have yet to be settled.

Located at 20-24 Staunton Street, the 3,300 sqft site could generate total gross floor area of 26,500 sqft. Sino paid HK$6,113 psf for the site.

In the first half of this year, 14 land purchases worth more than HK$6 billion were made as developers resorted to private negotiations and tenders. Since a new property application list was released by the government in March, developers have failed to trigger a single public auction.

Last month, Cheung Kong (Holdings) bought a redevelopment site in Mid-Levels from gambling tycoon Stanley Ho for about HK$190 million.

 

[hkskyline]

Location (Midlevels)

 

[hkskyline]

Boutique hotel bid worries concern group
Sino Land tries for third time to get SoHo development approved
24 August 2010
South China Morning Post

Concern over SoHo's redevelopment is mounting a month after a developer filed a third application regarding a site in Staunton Street.

This time the application is for a boutique hotel - the same developer's two previous applications over the past three years were rejected.

Sino Land applied to the Town Planning Board last month to turn its two five-storey residential tenement buildings at 20-26 Staunton Street - about 50 metres from the Mid-Levels escalator - into a 25-storey boutique hotel. The low-rise residential blocks are more than 40 years old.

If permission is granted, construction of the 95-room, mid-tariff hotel with a restaurant would be completed in 2013.

In its application to the board, Sino Land said the development would be compatible with the high-density area where there was a trend towards commercial development.

It would create a substantial number of job opportunities and commercial business in the local community, and would not set any undesirable precedent for similar applications in the area, the company said.

But Katty Law Ngar-ling, spokesman for the Central and Western Concern Group, objects strongly to the plan, saying it is not in keeping with the area, which has a quaint, low-rise, open-dining street appeal.

"It would set a bad precedent if this gets permission," she said. "Similar developments would sprout up and completely destroy this unique neighbourhood, which blends residential and entertainment."

Art gallery owner John Batten of the concern group also opposes the plan.

He said the Central, SoHo and Mid-Levels areas were already highly built-up and suffer from chronic traffic problems.

"Pedestrians already often walk on the road. The hotel would only exacerbate the problem," he said. "If there were an emergency in those high-rise buildings, I don't believe emergency vehicles could adequately manage in those narrow streets."

Last year, in a paper on the second application's rejection, the board said the 33-storey hotel with 144 rooms that Sino Land was then proposing would be incompatible with the low-rise character of the Staunton Street neighbourhood.

It also said approval would "set an undesirable precedent" for similar hotel developments in the area, and the cumulative impact would damage the area's pleasant atmosphere.

The department also cited traffic concerns, saying the site was too small for transport facilities for the hotel, and the carriageway and footpath at the front were too narrow. There was no waiting space and taxis, private cars, coaches or goods vehicles might have to wait on the street.

In 2007, the board rejected Sino Land's proposal to build a 25-storey office block.

The board is accepting comments on the development plan from the public until Friday.