$15.7m buy ends long wait for site
7 June 2006
The Standard
Kowloon Development has completed a 13-year quest to purchase a North Point site for a HK$500 million housing project.
The developer targeted five addresses but the fifth only came under the hammer Tuesday when its owners could not be traced.
The listed developer, whose shares have surged 47 percent this year, purchased the remainder of 28 Ming Yuen Western Street at the reserve price of HK$15.79 million at a compulsory public auction ordered by the Lands Tribunal under the Land (Compulsory Sale for Redevelopment) Ordinance.
The ordinance allows compulsory auctions to be triggered by owners or developers who hold a 90 percent interest in a building and want to buy the remainder.
A Kowloon Development representative, who declined to be identified, said a residential project will be built on the site, without disclosing details.
With a plot ratio of eight to one, the project will generate a gross floor area of 60,800 square feet, analysts said .
Kowloon Development, which began targeting the 7,600 square-foot site at 24, 26, 28, 30 and 32 Ming Yuen Western Street in 1993, acquired more than 90 per cent ownership _ the level at which a sale can be forced _ after the remaining owners at number 28 could not be traced. The sale was handled by Jones Lang LaSalle.
Kowloon Development, whose shares closed Tuesday unchanged at HK$12.30, is controlled by Macau- based Polytec Holdings International, which in turn is owned by the family trust of Macau tycoon Johnny Or Wai- sheun.
Real estate developers have been keen to buy sites in North Point amid a strong demand for residential developments on Hong Kong Island.
Sun Hung Kai Properties paid HK$380 million for a residential lot on Ming Yuen Western Street last year.
Meanwhile, Hopewell Holdings has applied to the Lands Tribunal for a compulsory public auction to buy a car park space on Broadwood Road in Happy Valley, clearing the way for the development of a luxury residential project with a gross floor area of 110,000 sq ft.
In recent years, several developers have used the land ordinance. Swire Properties last year brought to an end a decade of land purchasing for a Mid- Levels residential project by acquiring the site's remaining interests at auction.
It was the second time Swire had used the ordinance, after the purchase of the remaining interests in Melbourne Industrial Building in Westlands Road in Quarry Bay in May 2002.
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