Plan for historic Central Market to be creative hub at heart of Hong Kong

The historic Central Market can be transformed into a landmark for tourists and locals to shop, eat and enjoy cultural activities in the heart of the business district, a concern group said as it unveiled its design for revitalisation of the prime site.

Under the proposed design, the Urban Renewal Authority can maintain its original budget of HK$500 million while keeping the project financially sustainable after it is up and running.

The idea has been raised two months after the URA spoke of scaling down work on the 75-year-old Bauhaus structure because of a severe budget overrun.

The authority believed its own design would now cost HK$1.5 billion, three times more than the estimated HK$500 million before two judicial reviews related to the revitalisation, launched in 2011 and 2013, delayed the project.

With the authority revisiting the plan, the Central Market Concern Group said it met URA chairman Victor So Hing-woh to present its own design. "We hope it will become a tourist attraction where people can enjoy food and shopping, and where low-rent venues can be provided for young people to launch creative activities," the group's coconvenor Ada Wong Ying-kay said.

The "Central Oasis", planning for which began in 2009, is envisaged as a four-storey complex of art and culture venues in Central, with affordable eating places and a public open space of at least 1,000 square metres.