Levertech Centre at 69 to 71 King Yip Street was sold by Lever Style
Hong Kong’s developing business hub in Kowloon East notched its latest sale of an aging industrial building this week as a local family bought the 25-storey Levertech Center for HK$1.3 billion ($165.60 million).
The buyer of the 118,000 square foot tower in the former manufacturing centre is said to be a local family involved in the electronics business, who are paying the equivalent of HK$11,347 per square foot for their new Kwun Tong prize — a price said to be on par with other recent sector type transactions in the neighborhood.
The building at 69 to 71 King Yip Street was sold by Lever Style, a Hong Kong OEM apparel manufacturer that cuts and sews for brands including J Crew, Paul Smith and Theory.
Property Put Back on the Market After Four Year Hiatus
This week’s sale come after Lever Style had previously put the building on the market in 2014, when it received bids of up to HK$1 billion, according to an account in the Hong Kong Economic Times. That attempted tender came after the clothing maker had won approval from the government earlier that year to redevelop the tower as a three-star hotel of up to 257 rooms, however, the Centre was eventually pulled from the market without explanation.
In recent years Lever Style has been renting out the 1995-vintage building as office space with units regularly listed as available for office tenancy on local real estate websites. Last year a tenant leased a 3,076 square foot space on a mid-level floor of the tower for HK$17 per square foot per month, according to data from Hong Kong-based real estate agencies.
According to the Hong Kong Economic Times account, the buyer of the 118,000 square foot property is a low-key family whose businesses include electrical manufacturing. The registered company information shows that the buyer is based at 80 Gloucester Road in Wan Chai.
Kwun Tong Keeps Gaining in HK’s Location Race
Kwun Tong, the old industrial area is becoming the city’s up-and-coming business centre
The local players involved in this latest transaction in Kowloon East are playing their supporting part in an ongoing location drama, as the area attracts more tenants fleeing soaring office rents on Hong Kong island.
Two years ago, Citibank moved its Hong Kong headquarters to Citi Tower, One Bay East at 83 Hoi Bun Road in Kwun Tong. The US financial giant’s relocation plan was followed by Singapore’s biggest bank DBS leasing the 5th and 10th floors in the 20-storey Two Harbour Square in Kwun Tong this April.
In June, HSBC reportedly leased two floors totalling around 70,000 square feet in Mapletree Bay Point in Kowloon East, and the arrival of these financial giants has raised interest in the commercial and industrial property universe in Kowloon East.
According to a report published by Colliers in July, office tenants leased up 718,530 square feet, of grade A office space in Kowloon East during the second quarter of 2018 with vacancy levels declining from 12.3 percent to 10.3 percent during the period, despite a total 1.3 million square feet scheduled to become available in the area during 2018.
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