CapitaLand Sells HK Serviced Apartment Building to Hanison for $93M

Hong Kong real estate developer Hanison Construction on Wednesday announced to the Hong Kong Exchange that it has agreed to purchase a serviced apartment building in Hong Kong’s Sai Ying Pun area for HK$730 million ($93 million).

Hanison, which is controlled by billionaire Payson Cha, purchased the 43,765 square foot (4,065 square metre) building from Singapore’s CapitaLand, which has been operating the property at 138 Connaught Road West as the Citadines Harbourview Hong Kong.

This latest sale by the Hong Kong-listed company, which is controlled by the same family that rules Discovery Bay developer Hong Kong Resorts International (HKRI), brings Hanison’s disposals to over HK$3 billion since December last year.

HK$267M Upgrade in Five Years

The sale of the waterfront building in the up and coming western Hong Kong neighbourhood will bring CapitaLand an upgrade of HK$267 million, or 58 percent more than the HK$462 million that it paid to acquire the site in 2013 — two years before MTR service commenced in the western island neighbourhood.

Currently operated by CapitaLand’s Ascott serviced apartment unit, the 25-storey asset cost Hanison HK$16,680 per square foot, including some nice views of Victoria Harbour. The location is within ten minutes walk of the Sai Ying Pun MTR station and about one kilometre west of the Macau Ferry Terminal.

The 53-key facility has rooms that average 93 square metres by gross floor area, as well as a gym, laundry room, and a rooftop viewing balcony. According to hotel booking platform Booking.com, the rates for rooms in Citadines Harbourview Hong Kong range from HK$1,760 to HK$2,200 per night.

Although Singapore’s largest developer doesn’t list Hong Kong office or retail assets in its portfolio, CapitaLand owns several hotels and serviced apartment buildings in the city, managed under the Citadines brand. Apart from the Citadines Harbourview, the company also has the Citadines Ashley in Tsim Sha Tsui, the Citadines Mercer in Sheung Wan, the Somerset Victoria Park, the Hotel Pravo, and the Hotel Purple.

Selling in Sheung Wan, Before Buying in Sai Ying Pun

Hanison Construction, which sold a serviced apartment building in the same area of western Hong Kong this May, said the company would keep the Citadines Harbourview apartment for rental purposes. In May, Hanison sold a Sheung Wan commercial building jointly owned with Angelo, Gordon and Co for HK$1.1 billion after operating that asset as a serviced apartment business.

The Sheung Wan building, located at 338 Queen’s Road Central, is around a ten minute walk from Hanison’s Sai Ying Pun purchase from CapitaLand.

Apart from the Queen’s Road property, the Hanison has earned another HK$2 billion though property disposals since last year, including its HK$1.04 billion December sale, together with private equity firm PAG, of the 29-storey Success Centre in the New Territories.

In late February, the listed developer continued to increase its property sales income by unloading a 50 percent stake in the PeakCastle commercial building in Cheung Sha Wan for HK$800 million. The buyer was reported to be affiliated with PAG.