Hong Kong’s largest developers, and richest families, pile into blockbuster seafront land sale in nod to city’s outlook

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Sun Hung Kai Properties, CK Asset Holdings, Henderson Land Development, Wheelock’s Wharf unit, Sino Land and the Great Eagle Group are bidding for Site 3 at Connaught Place

The land measuring 516,316 square feet, which can yield 1.61 million square feet of gross floor area, is valued at between HK$37 billion and up to HK$55 billion

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Site 3 Connaught Place in the foreground, with the General Post Office built in 1976 in the background as of June 10, 2021. Photo: Martin Chan

Sandy Li

Published: 5:17pm, 18 Jun 2021Updated: 11:54am, 19 Jun 2021

Half a dozen real estate developers owned by Hong Kong’s wealthiest families have thrown their hats into the ring to bid for the largest plot of harbourfront commercial land in Central, in a test of the property market that offers a peek into the city’s future standing as an Asian financial hub.

Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP), Hong Kong’s largest developer by market value, controlled by the Kwok family, confirmed that it submitted a bid for Site 3 at Connaught Place in Central, a 516,316 square feet (47,970 square metres) plot that includes the 1976 General Post Office. The land parcel, which can yield 1.61 million square feet of gross floor area, has been valued at between HK$37 billion and up to HK$55 billion (US$7.1 billion), topping the scales as the most expensive plot in a city used to setting price records.

“Most of the big developers are taking part in the tender process, which shows their long term confidence in Hong Kong’s economic outlook,” said Knight Frank’s executive director Thomas Lam, who had expected between three to five bids. Total development cost could top HK$65 billion inclusive of the land cost, he said.

Hong Kong’s economy grew at a larger-than-expected pace of 7.9 per cent in the first three months, the fastest quarterly pace in 11 years compared with a low base last year, as the city claws its way out of its worst recession on record. Two years of economic slump - the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 after the street protests of 2019 - are casting doubt on the city’s viability as a financial centre, as increased emigration and sporadic rumours of capital flight - dispelled by local authorities - weigh on the city’s future.

CK Asset Holdings, one of the two flagship companies owned by Hong Kong’s richest tycoon Li Ka-shing, submitted a bid. Henderson Land Development, founded by the second-richest tycoon Lee Shau-kee is also taking part. Wharf Real Estate Investment Company, a unit of the Woo family’s Wheelock and Company Limited, said it submitted a bid in a consortium with the city’s subway operator MTR Corporation and ChinaChem Group.

Sino Land, controlled by the family of Robert Ng Chee Siong, submitted a joint bid with Great Eagle Holdings of the Lo family, as well as the Chinese state-owned enterprise China Merchants Group.