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An aerial view of 37 Shouson Hill Road in Deep Water Bay, Hong Kong.
Photographer: Martin Chan / SCMP
Photographer: Martin Chan / SCMP
The United States has sold its consulate staff complex in one of Hong Kong’s most exclusive neighborhoods for HK $ 2.57 billion ($ 332 million) to a local developer. Hang Lung Properties Ltd., amid growing tensions between China and the US.
The price, announced Thursday by CBRE Group Inc., which handled the sale, was lower than Vincorn Consulting and Appraisal Ltd.’s HK $ 3.1 billion to HK $ 3.5 billion valuation.
Hang Lung said it will invest an additional HK $ 4 billion to develop luxury single-family homes on the site. “The price of this exceptional and premium land is reasonable, and the purchase is a vote of confidence in the future of Hong Kong,” the firm said in a statement.
The site at Shouson Hill, on the south side of Hong Kong Island, comprises six low-density apartment buildings spread over nearly 95,000 square feet (8,825 square meters) and offers ocean views over Deep Water Bay. The remodel should be completed by 2024, Hang Lung said.
A representative of the US government. It said Wednesday that the decision to sell the compound was part of its global reinvestment program and that part of the proceeds from the transaction would be reinvested in multiple properties the United States owns in Hong Kong.
“It will not affect our presence, personnel or operations in any way,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The sale comes at a sensitive time, and American companies are considering moving out of the city due to escalating political conflicts and concerns over China’s imposed national security law. An American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong Last month’s poll found that about 40% of its 154 members were considering leaving the city.
Read more: What does it mean for Hong Kong to lose its ‘special status’ in the US?
Shouson Hill is one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the city, where some of the wealthiest tycoons in the city, including Li Ka-Shing, own houses. The United States government purchased the property in 1948, records filed with the Land Registry show.
An adjacent property was bought by a Chinese developer. China Resources Land Ltd. for HK $ 5.9 billion in 2018.
(Add a Hang Lung comment in the third paragraph.)
