Henderson Selling Kowloon Commercial Project to Miramar Hotel Unit for $400M

Twelve months after securing ownership of an ageing building in Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui district, Henderson Land has scrapped plans for a new commercial tower and is selling the property to the developer’s Miramar Hotel and Investment unit for HK$3.1 billion ($400 million).

Henderson, which owns just over half of the equity in HKEX-listed Miramar, had bought out control of the 1957-vintage building known as Champagne Court under a proposal for a 23-storey office and retail complex. Detailed in a stock filing, the new plan calls for Miramar to develop a 99-key hotel “to relieve the supply pressure of guestrooms” at The Mira Hong Kong, the company’s post-war hotel next door.

The deal for the building at 16-20 Kimberley Road will bring cash back to Henderson and help shore up the blue-chip builder’s balance sheet after its ratio of debt to equity ballooned from 29 percent to 49 percent in the past five years, said Dan Voellm, founder and CEO of AP Hospitality Advisors.

Miramar in turn can launch a quality hotel product in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui, steps from busy Nathan Road and the company’s Mira Place mall, with a relatively small room count to target a higher-tier traveller, Voellm said.

“In light of the compression of demand in Tsim Sha Tsui, the new property is bound to perform well provided that service levels follow through,” Voellm told Mingtiandi.

Going Spacious

Located a six-minute walk from Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station, the new 23-storey hotel is planned to have eight suites (including four presidential suites) and 91 guestrooms, with the higher floors featuring scenic views of Victoria Harbour or neighbouring Kowloon Park.

“The company believes that the new hotel will attract high-end patrons, thereby achieving a higher average room price of the hotel,” Miramar said.

Hong Kong’s hospitality sector has been recovering more quickly than other property sectors, with hotel occupancy rates averaging 85 percent in the first 11 months of 2024. This was up from 66 percent occupancy in 2022 and contrasts with the ongoing struggles in the city’s office and retail segments.

Given the weak commercial sector, Henderson may have considered the use of the site as a hotel from the start, using the office plan to ease the assessment of value when it unified the ownership of Champagne Court, according to some market analysts.

“Given this is a 99-room hotel with a total gross floor area of 137,885 square feet (12,810 square metres), the new hotel should provide large and comfortable rooms,” said Bobby Mak, a valuer at Hong Kong-based CHFT Advisory and Appraisal. “The proximity of the new hotel to The Mira Hong Kong may create synergy effects for its operation, such as shared management teams and resources.”

Profit Plunge

Led by co-chairmen Peter Lee and Martin Lee, Henderson is pivoting at Champagne Court after posting a 47 percent year-on-year drop in attributable profit to HK$3.2 billion for the first half of 2024. The result was driven by a fair-value loss of HK$2.3 billion on markdowns of the group’s investment properties.

In the development workbook, Henderson earlier this month applied for the compulsory sale of an ageing apartment block in Hong Kong Island’s Mid-Levels, aiming to add the asset to a site with two already-acquired adjacent buildings.

The group holds 69.23 percent of the ownership of 90-92 Robinson Road, known as Lai Cheung House, after previously picking up the properties at 88 Robinson Road and 94-96 Robinson Road via forced auctions. A valuer appointed by Henderson assessed the 1966-era building’s site value at HK$296 million ($38 million).

The combined site area of the three buildings is 22,935 square feet, yielding a maximum gross floor area of 114,675 square feet, per CHFT calculations. Given its location in a prime area of the western Mid-Levels, the consolidated site is expected to be redeveloped into a residential project with medium to large sized flats, according to CHFT.