Sino-Ocean Heads for $90M Compulsory Sale of Kowloon Building

Mainland developer Sino-Ocean Group is on its way to securing a site in the Kowloon City area for development into as much as 63,270 square feet (5,878 square metres) of new space, as Hong Kong’s booming residential market continues to boost appetites for fresh projects.

The red chip builder has commissioned the compulsory sale of the remaining space at 3-13 Nga Tsin Long Road, a set of residential and commercial units once owned by the late “Shop King” Tang Shing-bor, through an exercise that sets a reserve price of HK$705 million ($90.4 million) for the ageing walk-up structures.

With Tang having accumulated more than the 80 percent ownership of the buildings required to apply for the compulsory sale of the 1967-vintage structure before passing away in May this year, the Shop King’s family sold the site near the emerging redevelopment hotbed of To Kwa Wan to Sino-Ocean in June this year, news site Ming Pao reported.

The public auction will be held at 11 am on 18 January, according to a press release issued Monday by JLL, the appointed auctioneer. “The property is being sold partly with vacant possession and partly subject to existing lettings, tenancies and licences (if any) and existing building orders and on an ‘as is’ basis,” the property consultancy said.

Quick Transit Access

The six-storey building at 3-13 Nga Tsin Long is served by two common staircases and features seven shops on the ground floor, one non-domestic unit each on the first, second and third floors, and 10 domestic units each on the fourth and fifth floors for a total of 30 units.

Situated one block from the Sung Wong Toi (formerly To Kwa Wan) MTR station on the Tuen Ma extension line, the building site is zoned residential with other uses permitted on the ground floor and occupies an area of 7,030 square feet (653 square metres), yielding a maximum floor area of 63,270 square feet for redevelopment.

The reserve price of HK$705 million values the property at roughly HK$11,143 ($1,429) per square foot of potential built area.

Knight Frank, which had been engaged by Tang Shing-bor to sell his holdings in the property last year, said at the time that the site “benefits from its superb transportation network, all public transports are amply available along Prince Edward Road West, and Exit B2 of Sung Wong Toi MTR Station under construction is only one block away”.

Tang had tried to sell his 80 percent ownership interest in 3-13 Nga Tsin Long in September 2020 with HK$650 million as a guide price but found no takers. Although he struck a deal in April of this year to sell the project to Soundwill Holdings, a local developer controlled by chairman Grace Foo, the agreement was terminated in August of this year after the Tang family reversed course following the death of its patriarch.

Revival in Full Force

A successful sale of 3-13 Nga Tsin Long would add to the parade of recent acquisitions in the To Kwa Wan area, which has gained favour with redevelopment-minded property firms with the completion of the Tuen Ma line section stretching from Tai Wai in the New Territories to Hung Hom in Kowloon. The extension opened for service in June after a two-year delay.

Earlier this month, Kerry Properties won a tender for an Urban Renewal Authority redevelopment project in To Kwa Wan for HK$5.58 billion. The developer controlled by the Kwok family of Shangri-La Hotels fame topped seven competing bids to win the rights to build up to 443,785 square feet of new homes and retail space, offering to pay HK$12,591 per square foot of new construction area for the project at 1-51 Hung Fook Street and 2-42A Ngan Hon Street.

In September, Henderson Land acquired its own To Kwa Wan URA project, as it won a site along Ma Tau Wei Road for HK$8.1 billion. Earlier that same month, Hong Kong-listed Grand Ming Group had acquired a housing project at 41-45 Pau Chung Street in To Kwa Wan for HK$320 million.