CityU joins ranks of schools snapping up Hong Kong offices with Festival Walk buy
University buys four-storey office block in Kowloon Tong for US$252 million from Singapore-based Mapletree
CityU Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the university, has acquired the low-rise office block at Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong from Singapore-based Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust. The agreement was signed on December 10, with delivery taking place on Wednesday, according to Land Registry records.
The four-storey block is part of Festival Walk, the complex connected to Kowloon Tong MTR station and opposite the CityU campus. It offers about 214,000 sq ft of space, is more than 90 per cent occupied, and was acquired at roughly HK$9,160 per square foot.
City University of Hong Kong said the acquisition was driven by a shortage of campus space and rising demand for research facilities, particularly wet laboratories, as additional space and funding may not be available until 2030 or later.
The university said leasing off-campus wet laboratories would involve high set-up and reinstatement costs, as well as uncertainty over lease renewals, making an outright purchase more cost-effective. It added that the property’s proximity to the main campus made it a rare opportunity with “no comparable alternatives”.
The university expected the relocation of administrative offices to begin in phases after legal completion of the transaction, which is slated for February 2026.