New World Development’s K11 Atelier tower on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront has just leased out a full mid-level floor for a monthly rent of HK$2.6 million ($332,413), or HK$95 per square foot, according to a media report. The rate for the 27,500 square foot (2,555 square metre) floor sets a new high-water mark for the highest grade A office rent in Kowloon by surpassing the HK$94 per square foot record set at Sun Hung Kai’s ICC building in February of last year.
Opened in late November 2017, the K11 Atelier commercial tower is the first phase of New World’s redeveloped Victoria Dockside along the shore of Victoria Harbour in East Tsim Sha Tsui. The office component spans 15 floors of the 66-storey mixed-use tower, providing 435,156 square feet of grade A space.
Redeveloped TST Project Pulls Tenants From Central
Offices in the project formerly known as New World Centre boast 270-degree views of Victoria Harbour, and were over 70 percent leased as of the end of November, said New World Development in a press release. Tenants including Japan’s Mizuho Bank and Taipei Fubon Bank have already fled Hong Kong island’s rapidly rising office rents to the new tower.
New World Development also has plans to expand the K11 Atelier brand to mainland cities like Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen over the next few years.
New World Bets Big on Tsim Sha Tsui
Victoria Dockside is a $2.6 billion project led by Adrian Cheng, the executive vice-chairman and general manager of the company, and grandson of New World founder Cheng Yu-tung. Set for full completion in 2019, the 3 million square foot mixed-use development will include a luxury Rosewood Hotel, Rosewood Residences, and art, design and leisure facilities in addition to its office component.
Formerly the New World Centre before its demolition in 2009, the site was redeveloped into Victoria Dockside. The high profile project was designed by top architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), which helped shape Tokyo’s Roppongi Hills and renowned landscape architect James Corner Field Operations (JCFO), which is famous for its work with New York’s High Line.
Hong Kong’s ongoing tight supply of Grade A office space has pushed up rents territory-wide by 4.4 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2017, said JLL. With the city’s central business district Centra topping the charts as the world’s most expensive premium office rental market, Denis Ma, head of research at the real estate firm said that more companies are now seeking more affordable office locations outside Central.
Data from Cushman & Wakefield shows that Kowloon offered rents that were almost one-third the price of Central’s in the third quarter of last year, leading a broad range of tenants to consider relocating to the district just across the harbour from Central.
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