The Beautiful South
With an MTR station on the way and largely untouched industrial space, Aberdeen is primed to be Hong Kong’s next buzz-worthy neighbourhood
| Text : Elizabeth Kerr | Photo : www.ovolo.hk / www.thinkstockphotos.com |
If you’ve wandered past the Aberdeen Boat Club or made your way to Ocean Park lately, you may have noticed that there’s a lot of fresh activity in the Aberdeen and Wong Chuk Hang areas. Best known as a one-time fishing village, factory district and the location of Jumbo Floating Restaurant, Aberdeen is teetering on the verge of a major makeover. When the last vestiges of the “old” Aberdeen were swept away with the demolition of Wang Chuk Hang Estate it unofficially kicked-off the re-envisioning of the entire neighbourhood.
As it stands, Aberdeen and Wong Chuk Hang are favourites with businesses looking for inexpensive office space that’s within easy reach of Central. “Traditionally [the area] was all industrial space and it’s still industrially zoned. That’s why you’ll find the rents are nothing. Of course, the standard of the buildings is also, in some instances, very poor,” explains Diana Lilauwala, an agent with At Home Limited who specialises in residential leasing and sales on Hong Kong island. “We think this area is going to hugely develop because there’s not much in the way space on Hong Kong Island; this is a secret that hasn’t quite been discovered.”
Much of the activity (and rumours) concerning redevelopment hinges on the idea that in the very near future, Aberdeen will be serviced by the MTR. Scheduled to open in 2015, Lilauwala agrees that a new MTR station could have a fair bit to do with the sudden interest in the formerly sleepy fishing village. “Well, obviously people see the potential that the area could come more alive, be more accessible,” she states. “At the moment there’s a huge network of buses that comes here so transport is really not a problem. Of course when the MTR comes it will be even better.” Aside from a smattering of local restaurants not much exists in the way of amenities or entertainment right now, but that could also change given the minor developments already underway or just completed. “I think it will sort of come alive,” Lilauwala theorises.
However alive it comes, it will have to follow substantial and thorough planning on the part of the government and developers; the Urban Renewal Authority currently has no confirmed plans for Aberdeen. Uncertainty over the area’s appeal hasn’t stopped Chinachem from opening L’hotel Island South or Ovolo serviced apartment provider from setting up shop. More hotels are slated to open closer to Ocean Park (perhaps giving the district a less flashy Disney resort feel), Ovolo has also applied to construct a 120-room boutique hotel, and Wheelock has yet-unannounced plans for the old British American Tobacco Factory building. Things might have to develop slowly, however, if Lilauwala’s description of many of the older buildings as “grotty,” “filthy” and “dingy” is accurate. “I think in the future there will be a lot of re-zoning. If it becomes commercial or office there’s the [opportunity] to raise the rents,” she says.
With the exception of the Ovolo’s suites, the only other homes in the immediate vicinity so far are Sun Hung Kai Properties’ nine-tower Larvotto development. Lilauwala thinks it is unlikely there will be much residential development beyond that, “Who knows? Maybe someone will apply for re-zoning. It could very well be the next happening place. It’s really on the fringe of the south side of the island, so there’s a lot of scope for commercial activity in the way of bars and restaurants.” And those potential bars and restaurants could service existing residents in Island South as well as future denizens and hotel guests.
But should anything be re-zoned for more residential, can we expect to see the kind of spacious loft living so common in New York and London’s old Industrial Revolution-era factories blossom in Island South? Sadly, that’s unlikely without an innovative and cash-rich developer to help it along. “You have to essentially change the make-up of the building. If they totally re-do the industrial buildings, perhaps. Our building is definitely office space.”
So whether it’s office space or hotels, how much longer is Aberdeen going to be the surprisingly economical, largely tucked away corner of Hong Kong? Will Aberdeen follow in the footsteps of Sheung Wan and Kennedy Town when the MTR arrives and the area comes to feel less like the “end of the line” and detached from Central? Is it going to lose its flavour in favour of luxury and the requisite prices? It may have already started: According to Lilauwala, SHKP was expecting to sell units at Larvotto in the range of HK$25-30,000 per square foot when they launched. (In July, two special units at Larvotto went on the market at just over $21,000.) In addition to new builds, owners of all or part of the industrial buildings could be in line to cash in and leave the area to the luxury developers. Changes in the regulations for buying out old properties — making it easier for developers to force holdouts to sell — have changed the way the same developers can roll in and completely transform a neighbourhood.
“It’s bound to happen given the limited space in Hong Kong. It’s inevitable. If you own an [industrial] property you bought well within the million-dollar mark and someone pays you $5 million to get out, why wouldn’t you do it?” Lilauwala laments, likening the potential rise of Aberdeen as the next hot spot at the expense of personality to Wanchai’s vanishing Wedding Card Street. “It’s extremely sad and these tall, impersonal glass-fronted skyscrapers are obliterating those little, little streets. There’s going to be no character left there … That’s what Hong Kong is all about, the old and the new. And the old is fast disappearing.” For now it’s wait and see for Aberdeen.
Property Listings and Stories via our International Network
|
