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The US government has agreed to sell a complex for consulate staff in one of Hong Kong’s most exclusive residential areas to a local developer for nearly a third of a billion dollars.
Real estate agent CBRE Group Inc. said on Thursday that the buyer would pay $ 332 million (reported as HK $ 2.57 billion) for the site in Shouson Hill, on the south side of Hong Kong Island.
The site covers 94,796 square feet, with 26 apartments in six low-rise residential buildings and an outdoor pool. The buyer, Hang Lung Properties Ltd., plans to remodel the site into luxury single-family homes.
Hang Lung said that including the cost of the land, he planned to invest around HK $ 4 billion, in total, and was aiming to complete the remodel by 2024.
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A spokesman for the US consulate in Hong Kong said the removal was “purely a business decision” made as part of a global reinvestment program by the State Department.
“It will not affect our presence, personnel or operations in any way,” the spokesperson said. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year and part of the proceeds will be reinvested in US government property in Hong Kong.
The buyer said that the purchase price was reasonable and that the purchase was “a vote of confidence in the future of Hong Kong.” Based on the nearly 47,400 square feet of gross area available for redevelopment, the price equates to just under $ 7,000 per square foot, more than a third lower than the rate paid by a mainland Chinese developer for an adjacent property two ago. years. .
The United States government’s transactions in international property have at times been controversial. Two years ago, President Trump attacked the 2008 decision to sell the US embassy in London and build a replacement in what he called a “misplaced location.”
