Developer walks away from HKD11.12b offer for Kai Tak airport runway plot

In a sudden U-turn, Goldin Financial Holdings Ltd is abandoning its offer for the first commercial plot at the former Kai Tak airport runway.

In a telephone conference, the developer cited “social contradiction and economic instability” for its change of heart, the South China Morning Post reports. It will be forfeiting its HKD25 million deposit on the site.

“The decision came after accessing the short to mid-term impact of the trade war and how the social contradiction would affect the hotel and office market outlook,” said independent non-executive director and lawmaker Abraham Razack. “We doubt if the company should invest HK$11 billion in Kai Tak where infrastructure has not yet fully developed.”

Goldin Financial Holdings  won the government tender for plot NKIL 6546 in the Kai Tak Development Area (KTDA) on 15 May 2019. It outbid other major Hong Kong developers, including CK Asset Holdings, Sun Hung Kai Properties, Wheelock Properties, Great Eagle Holdings and Sino Land for the 50-year-lease seafront plot.

At HKD12,888 per square foot, the offer price was on the higher-end of market expectation and the highest achieved for a commercial development site in KTDA. According to market sources, the developer had intended to invest about HKD18 billion to build a high-end hotel and office development.

It had previously acquired NKIL 6314 (now Goldin Financial Global Centre) in Kowloon Bay in July 2011. — Construction+ Online