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Coronavirus pandemic
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Vaccination lottery: a peek at the US$1.4 million flat aimed at moving the needle in Hong Kong’s fight against Covid-19

  • The 449-square foot Grand Central apartment overlooking the Kowloon Peak is the biggest carrot being dangled in front of residents to spur the vaccination rate
  • More than HK$120 million of goodies, from a diamond-studded Rolex to a Tesla and gold bar, are up for grabs for the vaccinated

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Inside the HK$10.8 million flat up for grabs in Hong Kong’s vaccine lottery

Inside the HK$10.8 million flat up for grabs in Hong Kong’s vaccine lottery
Peggy SitoandEnoch Yiu
The HK$10.8 million (US$1.4 million) apartment offered by one of Hong Kong’s largest property developers in a lottery to spur the city’s residents to take up the Covid-19 vaccine, is a single-room flat at Sino Land’s Grand Central project in Kwun Tong on the eastern side of Kowloon.

The unit, located on the 47th floor of Tower Three, measures 449 square feet (42 square metres) and has two balconies overlooking the Kowloon Peak, also known as Fei Ngo Shan (literally: “Soaring Goose Mountain”) and the Lion Rock. It was kept by the developer and was not included in the first sales launch in 2018.

The area, formerly a prominent industrial hub on the eastern side of Kowloon in the 1950s, has gradually evolved from a manufacturing base into a district packed with cafes, restaurants, lifestyle shops and premium commercial buildings.

The apartment is arguably the big magnet in a bag of goodies worth more than HK$120 million so far - they include a diamond-studded Rolex, a Tesla and 300 taels of pure gold  - being offered by several of the city’s largest real estate developers, billionaires, charities and other individuals to steepen the vaccination curve in the financial hub.
With a population of 7.5 million and a two-dose vaccination rate of 17.5 per cent as of June 10, Hong Kong is among the world’s least vaccinated regions. The inertia is egregious, considering the city is one of the few places in the world where the Covid-19 jabs are free and highly accessible. It is a truancy that local authorities are trying to correct to get the borders reopened and the local economy humming again.

“Grand Central is located next to the MTR station in Kwun Tong, part of the Kwun Tong Redevelopment Plan, the largest such plan ever mapped out by the Urban Renewal Authority (URA),” said Thomas Lam, executive director at Knight Frank. “It is really coming up as a cool neighborhood.”

The ready-to-move-in development has a total of 1,999 units spread across four high-rise towers co-developed by Sino Land, the URA and Chinese Estates Holdings. More than 1,800 units have been sold at a price ranging from HK$18,000 to HK$25,000 per square foot since 2018. The greening ratio of the project – a measure of the proportion of green space – accounts for more than 30 per cent of the total development area.

General view of Grand Central in Kwun Tong. 28MAY21 SCMP / Edmond So
General view of Grand Central in Kwun Tong. 28MAY21 SCMP / Edmond So
While some Hongkongers are seemingly shunning Covid-19 vaccines for whatever reasons, one thing is certain: they will always have a zeal for property in a city infamous for its stratospheric home prices, poor affordability and a chronic shortage of public housing.

The Grand Central apartment for the lucky draw is co-sponsored by the Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation and Chinese Estates Holdings. The foundation will also separately donate 20 prizes with a prepaid or credit card value of HK$100,000 each, for permanent and non-permanent residents alike.

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