Nine developers join forces on Kai Tak seafront

Nine developers are joining forces to turn the Kai Tak seafront into a commercial-cum-residential hub named Park Peninsula.

The developers will jointly set up a non-profit private company for the new project.

They are Chinachem Group, China Overseas Land and Investment, Empire Group, Far East Consortium International, Henderson Land Development, K Wah International, New World Development, Sun Hung Kai Properties and Wheelock Properties.

Sitting along the seafront of the runway of the former Kai Tak airport, Park Peninsula will be a combination of leisure, sports, tourism, commercial and residential developments, the nine said in a statement yesterday.

The development will involve about 4.84 million square feet of green and open space, including Metro Park, Kai Tak Sky Garden, Kai Tak Cruise Terminal Park, Kai Tak Runway Park and Kai Tak Sports Park, which is 2.3 times larger than Victoria Park and the largest in Hong Kong, the statement said.

Park Peninsula is also next to about 2.4 kilometers of the Kai Tak River, while it is connected to 11 kilometers of waterfront promenade and 13 kilometers of pedestrian and cycling links. They lead to the Kwun Tong Typhoon Shelter and the neighboring areas.

It will also be connected to the core districts of Kwun Tong and Kowloon Bay through the construction of elevated pedestrian walkways with automated pedestrian conveyors and cross-harbor pedestrian and bicycle bridges. It will have a series of bus and green minibus stations.

The Runway Park Pier will be built as a pick-up and drop-off point, connecting Central, West Kowloon, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Hung Hom and Kai Tak, providing fast and direct transportation services, the statement said.

The new project comes after the government's long-term Energizing Kowloon East plan, which aims to transform the area into the city's second core business district.

In the 2011-12 Policy Address, the chief executive announced the government will adopt a visionary, coordinated and integrated approach to transform Kowloon East into an additional attractive core business district to sustain Hong Kong's economic development.

This initiative was reiterated in the subsequent Policy Addresses. Specifically, this involves land use reviews, enhanced urban design, and improvement to connectivity and the associated infrastructure, said the Energizing Kowloon East Office.

With a total area of 488 hectares, Kowloon East comprises the Kai Tak Development, Kwun Tong and Kowloon Bay Business Areas, which is accommodating over 30,000 firms and more than 270,000 jobs, the office said.

As promulgated in the 2017 Policy Agenda, the Energizing Kowloon East initiative was extended to San Po Kong, with a focus on enhancing connectivity, improving the environment, and promoting vibrancy and diversified development, the office said.

Kowloon East has been a major source of office supply in Hong Kong over the past 10 years and would continue to be so in the short to medium term, former chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said in a visit to the office in early April this year, celebrating the plan's 10th anniversary.

The commercial land supply in gross floor area in Kowloon East has seen a rise by 70 percent to 2.9 million square meters from 1.7 million sq m in 2012, and upon completion of the major planned developments, including the areas in Kowloon Bay and Kwun Tong, would further increase to a total of more than 4 million sq m, Lam said, adding that its scale would be on par with that of the CBD in Central by then.

staff.reporter@singtaonewscorp.com