“The attractive acquisition price can only be achieved by collective sale, which Lofter is very experienced in,” the group’s director of investment management Alvin Leung told Mingtiandi via email. “Our acquisition price is also way below the price of the nearby Ashley Road transaction in 2019,” he added.
Leung indicated that the group has acquired 97 percent ownership in the existing buildings, with a single unit remaining unpurchased. He added that the joint venture has applied for a compulsory sale of the remaining space in the building, which under Hong Kong law, would allow for owners of 80 percent or more in an aging property to force a tender at a market valuation.
“The site has a wide frontage of over 33-metre facing Hankow Road with high retail value,” Lofter said in the statement while indicating that the partners plan to develop a grade A commercial tower on the site, incorporating “cutting-edge technology and green and sustainable design features.”
樂風委任梁鎮峰作投資管理總監
Leung graduated with first class honour at the University of Hong Kong. Prior to joining the Group, he has spent 10 years at JLL, with his last role being a director for JLL’s Hong Kong Capital Markets team, focusing on advising clients in acquisition and disposal of Hong Kong properties and portfolios. Leung has built solid professional expertise and developed a wealth of relationships with real estate funds, local investors and developers. Leung also held various public roles, including council member in Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors (HKIS) General Practice Division (GPD) council 2021/23 and member of Appeal Tribunal Panel (Buildings) 2021/24. With his dedication and contribution to the industry, Leung was awarded the RICS Hong Kong Young Surveyor of the Year in 2019.
The project is within two minutes’ walk of the Tsim Sha Tsui MTR entrance and sits half-way between Nathan Road and the Harbour City shopping complex just south of Kowloon Park.
The Tsim Sha Tsui area, which sits at the point of Kowloon peninsula closest to Hong Kong island has been hard hit by the pandemic, with US developer Hines having picked up the Butterfly on Prat Hotel for HK$925 million in November of last year.
That hotel, which is located four blocks east of the Hankow Road project had suffered from the same lack of visitor traffic which led Hong Kong’s Watsons chain of personal care stores to close its location next to the Star Ferry last October after more than 20 years in operation.
In February of this year a mainland investor walked away from an opportunity to acquire a building in Tsim Sha Tsui via compulsory sale, after values in the area had dropped well below levels anticipated when the sale was applied for in 2019.