When the Hongkong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown first opened in Kowloon in 1886, it was a world apart from Hong Kong Island. Colonial Hong Kong rarely ventured across Victoria Harbour.
A stone's throw from the KCR railway terminus, on appropriately named Canton Road, the godown, operated by The Wharf (Holdings), was the bridgehead to the mainland, and was regarded warily.
Wharf still owns and runs the former dockside warehouse now known as Harbour City. And as Hong Kong's ties with the mainland become increasingly interlinked, Kowloon's premier office address is becoming a major commercial force.
There is 4.35 million sqft of office space in the 10 blocks of Tower 1, Tower 2, Tower 6, Prudential Tower and Sun Life Tower of The Gateway which are international grade-A offices, along with Ocean Centre, World Finance Centre (North and South Towers), Wharf T & T Centre and World Commercial Centre, which are best known as a base for fashion houses, garment traders, buying offices and toymakers.
But increasingly, Harbour City has emerged as a viable, even desirable alternative to Central and Hong Kong Island. There has been a notable demographic shift as it attracts tenants that were previously focused on the other side of the harbour, including multinational corporations, banks, finance houses, airlines and professional firms.
'Kowloon and Tsim Sha Tsui in particular have gained tremendously in popularity,' said Dave Siu Wing-koon, general manager (office leasing) at Harbour City Estates, the Wharf Group subsidiary which runs the development. 'Potential tenants are realising that Kowloon offers much better value for money than Hong Kong Island. There are substantial rental differentials between Central and TST. As a bonus, the view from this side of the harbour is also much better.'
