Music mogul pays US$108m for a 1,212 sq ft outlet
A company run by Hong Kong’s best-known entertainment mogul has paid a record US$108 million for a shop in one of the busiest districts, a report said yesterday.
The sale of the 1,212 square foot outlet comes as the city’s government tries to contain soaring property costs due to fears they are getting out of control.
The price works out to about US$90,000 per square foot, making it the city’s most expensive retail space, the South China Morning Post reported, quoting an unnamed source.
‘It is unknown if this is now the most expensive shop in the world, but obviously it’s a record in the city,’ real estate agent Lawrence Wong told the daily newspaper.
The shop in Hong Kong’s busy Tsim Sha Tsui district houses luxury retailer Emperor Watch & Jewellery, which is run by music tycoon Albert Yeung, the Post said.
Mr Yeung’s Emperor Entertainment Group has contracts with a host of Cantonese pop stars who claim legions of fans in the city of seven million.
An Emperor subsidiary, which had been leasing the space, bought the property because of ‘the investment value of the location and a basic need for the shop’, the source told the paper.
The previous record for a Hong Kong retail space was set in May by Mr Yeung’s brother Ricky, who paid US$58,000 psf for a shop in the same neighbourhood, the Post said.
In October, Henderson Land Development said it sold a five-bedroom luxury residential duplex in Hong Kong’s Mid-Levels area for an Asian record US$11,300 psf, or US$57 million in total.
Hong Kong’s government is considering plans to rein in the city’s real estate prices as it grows concerned about a dangerous bubble building in the market.
The city has seen several record-breaking property sales in the past year as wealthy mainland Chinese investors and low interest rates stoke demand.
Source: Business Times, 23 Dec 2009
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