Hong Kong’daki Harbourside HQ blokunun konuta dönüştürülmesi planı reddedildi; doluluk oranları yükseliyor

Kısaca

Harbourside HQ’nin konuta dönüştürülmesi planı reddedildi; mevcut ticari alan yüzde 36 azaltıldı ve 1.140 daire hedefi vardı Karar beklenenden daha sert; planlar yeniden değerlendirilecek Gelecek dönemde benzer projelere karşı regülasyon ve itiraz süreçleri etkilenebilir; takip edin

Ana mesele

Ticari alanın konuta dönüştürülmesi talebinin reddedilmesiyle ilgili karar

Ne değişti?

Reddedilen planın ardından geliştiriciler karar gerekçelerini inceleyebilir veya yeni başvuru yapabilir

Beni nasıl etkiler?

Okuyucuya, ticari emlak dönüşüm baskılarının yoğun olduğu bölgelerde belirsizliğin sürdüğünü gösterir

Ne oldu?

Harbourside HQ’nin konuta dönüştürülmesi için yapılan başvuru Town Planning Board tarafından reddedildi.

Neden şimdi?

Konut arzı baskılarının arttığı bir dönemde kararın beklenenden farklı çıkması dikkat çekti.

Neden önemli?

Geliştiricilerin yatırım stratejileri ve bölgesel emlak talep dengelerini etkileyebilir; sürdürülebilirlik tartışmaları da gündeme gelebilir.

Kimler etkileniyor?

• Geliştiriciler
• Kowloon Bay bölgesindeki emlak yatırımcıları
• Piyasa analistleri
• Sürdürülebilirlik odaklı planlama kurumları

Sektör ve piyasa etkisi

Ticari kullanım alanlarda küçülme ile konut dönüşümü ihtimalleri tartışılır hale geldi

Riskler

• Plan reddedilmesi sonrası yatırımcı güveni zayıflayabilir
• Benzer projelerin reddedilme olasılığı artabilir
• Sürdürülebilir kalkınma hedefleriyle çelişen kararlar algılanabilir

Takip edilmesi gerekenler

• Plan reddedilme gerekçelerinin ayrıntıları açıklanır mı
• İtiraz veya yeniden başvuru süreci nasıl işleyecek
• Regülasyon yaklaşımında değişiklik olur mu
• Konut ve ticari alan dengesi nasıl şekillenecek

Haberin tamamı

Hong Kong’s Town Planning Board has rejected an application from a consortium of developers to rezone a commercial project in Kowloon for development as residential flats, leaving sellers struggling with high vacancy rates, according to analysts.

A consortium formed by CSI Properties, Asia Standard International, and Chongqing-born property tycoon Cheung Chung-kiu applied to the Town Planning Board to redevelop “Harbourside HQ” – a grade A office building at 8 Lam Chak Street, Kowloon Bay, which they jointly own – into two residential towers providing 1,140 flats.

The gross floor area of the proposed redevelopment project would have been about 45,787 square metres (492,800 square feet), representing a significant 36 per cent reduction compared with the existing commercial building’s total area of 71,664 square metres.

The Planning Department previously indicated no objection to the application. However, the Town Planning Board rejected the development proposal after deliberating on it last Friday.

The developers, who refused to comment on the decision, may apply for a review after receiving the refusal notice or can substantially revise the proposal and resubmit a completely new application based on the Town Planning Board’s reasons for refusal.

Market observers had widely expected the application to be approved, so the eventual outcome was a complete surprise to many.

Alex Leung, senior director at CHFT Advisory and Appraisal, anticipated that securing approval would be difficult even if the developers sought a review or resubmitted a modified proposal.

Since Harbourside HQ was only completed in 2010, some might view demolishing a 16-year-old grade A office building as a waste of resources that runs counter to sustainable development, potentially setting an undesirable precedent for future urban planning, he explained.

Moreover, this year, market insiders felt the Town Planning Board had adopted an increasingly tough stance regarding developers’ proposals to rezone commercial land for residential use. In the past, applications that faced no objection from the Planning Department were rarely rejected by the Board.

The Town Planning Board has reviewed three applications to convert commercial land to residential use so far this year. Only one of these – submitted by the Civil Engineering and Development Department and covering two sites in Sha Tin – was approved last Friday, according to the Board’s data.

Another application was made by New World Development last October to the Town Planning Board to convert its K11 Artus hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui into serviced flats, but the application was rejected by the Board in March. The developer has since submitted a request for a review, which is pending further deliberation.

Leung pointed out that Harbourside HQ was the second application this year to rezone a commercial site for residential use that the Town Planning Board rejected, despite the Planning Department raising no objections.

“Such a scenario is rare and may prompt developers to factor in additional risk regarding redevelopment projects,” he said.

Leung also believes it would be difficult for the developer to convert Harbourside HQ for other uses.

He pointed out that while the current market trend involved converting commercial buildings into student accommodation, existing buildings ordinance mandates that every habitable room in such facilities must feature operable windows. Furthermore, strict requirements regarding window area, natural lighting, views and room depth prohibit the creation of “windowless dark rooms”.

“However, Harbourside HQ has large, deep floors and features a glass curtain wall,” Leung said. “I believe it would be quite difficult to convert it into student accommodation. The costs would be very high, and it might require sacrificing a significant amount of floor area.”

Therefore, Leung predicts Harbourside HQ will simply remain on the rental market as is for the short term, leaving the developer with no choice but to wait for a recovery in the office market.

However, according to the application documents, Harbourside HQ’s current vacancy rate is 25 per cent. The consortium also said there was already an oversupply of commercial area in Kwun Tong and doubted the need to retain commercial use at the site.

A market report released by Centaline Commercial last week indicated that the overall vacancy rate for grade A office buildings in Kowloon stood at 15.7 per cent in August.

Vacancy rates in the Kwun Tong and Kowloon Bay districts reached 17.13 per cent and 25.42 per cent respectively, representing year-on-year increases of 2.36 and 2.43 percentage points.

As demand for commercial properties dwindles, six applications to rezone commercial land for residential use in Hong Kong have been lodged this year and are currently awaiting approval.

These include a proposal by Paliburg Holdings and Regal Hotels to redevelop a five-storey shopping centre called We Go Mall in Ma On Shan that has been in operation for only eight years.

Kaynaklar

• South China Morning Post - Business