Conversion of Kai Tak commercial plots to residential use will reduce office space by 20 per cent, analysts warn
- The proposal could deal a blow to the role of Kai Tak in the transformation of East Kowloon into Hong Kong’s second core business district
- The potential rezoning could shrink the commercial gross floor area by about 4.47 million sq ft, according to estimates by CHFT Advisory and Appraisal
The rezoning of the five commercial plots would yield about 5,800 private flats, according to Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po’s budget unveiled last Wednesday. It will reduce the amount of commercial space originally planned for Kai Tak by about a fifth.
“Kai Tak is no longer what we thought or dreamt it would be,” said Alex Leung, senior director at CHFT Advisory and Appraisal.
In the 2011-12 Policy Address, former Chief Executive Donald Tsang revealed plans to transform Kowloon East into a central business district to sustain Hong Kong’s economic development. Kai Tak has been an important part of the plan. The initiative was reiterated in subsequent policy addresses.
The scale of the new commercial space offered in Kai Tak would be “unprecedented” at 53 times the size of the International Finance Centre in Central, according to an estimate by CBRE in October 2017.
The potential rezoning could shrink the commercial gross floor area by about 4.47 million sq ft, according to estimates by CHFT.
