no tell hotel
The hotel site fetched $719 million in what was arguably Sai Kung’s most important land sale for years – a transaction that will profoundly shape the town’s future development. But if you’ve heard nothing about it, don’t be surprised. Hardly anyone else has either. The winning bidder got a huge, 18,000 sqm slice of prime seafront with permission for a three-storey hotel with stunning ocean views and 500 guest rooms. But if you’ve never heard of the company, don’t be surprised. Hardly anyone else has either. The sale of Lot 1950 – sandwiched between the Kau Sai Chau public golf club car park and the rundown Beach Resort Hotel – was as low key and anonymous as the plot’s name. No bigname developers took part and the final price was $60 million below market expectations. Only two tenders were lodged. The loser was East Kong International Industrial Ltd, a company created 11 months before the sale. The winner was Cheer Regal Ltd, incorporated on October 7 – just 20 days before its successful tender on October 27, 2011. More than four months after the sale, the site – which was being used for market gardens and a dog training centre last year – is messy and overgrown, surrounded by high fencing punctuated by misspelt anti-trespassing signs saying: “No trespassent area.” What happens next on Lot 1950 is far from dull, though. It will determine whether Sai Kung gets the hotel it has been waiting years for or whether another prime seafront site is left to stand idle. It will also play a potentially major role in the town’s economic future. The site was sold as part of an overall expansion plan that will see a new international school open across the road in 2013, a separate boutique hotel near Hebe Haven, and a general upgrade of roads and infrastructure in coming years. But the worrying precedent for Lot 1950
is the nearby Beach Resort Hotel, whose last guest checked out more than a decade ago. Since then it has changed hands twice with promises by the first buyer, Brad Gotfried of Urban Entertainment, to transform it into a Hawaiian-themed resort. Gotfried – a Hong Kong-born Australian who bought the hotel in 2003 for $28 million at the same time as he bought another $257 million of Sai Kung property at SARS prices – wanted to rename it the Honolulu Hotel and have nightly beach parties with pig roasts and dancers in grass skirts. His pipe dream never materialised. The Beach Resort remained a derelict shell before being sold three years later for a rumoured $72 million – netting Urban Entertainment a cool $44 million profit. (See story, over page.) The hotel was bought by New World Development but renovation work carried out since has long since ground to a standstill. Former site manager K.Y. Mak, who supervised the recent renovations, said: “The work stopped around one year ago. I think the owner just wanted to do some basic work. I don’t think they know what to do with it. Maybe they’ve changed their plans.” New World Development spokeswoman Karen Wong insisted the Beach Resort Hotel was “still under development”. She said, “Construction work at the site is ongoing and there is no halt to the project.” However, when asked when the work would be completed and when the hotel might reopen, Wong replied: “That is confidential. We can’t disclose that.” The nagging question is whether Lot 1950 – a stone’s throw from the Beach Resort – is destined to meet the same fate. The land deal is understood to oblige Cheer Regal to provide plans within a year and to build a structure within five years but imposes no date for the first check-in.
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