news review
50-storey tower on world's most valuable property
A site that did not exist two years ago was sold in Hong Kong last month for the world record price of HK$5,000 per sq. ft. In a dramatic Government auction, bidding closed at HK$258 million, some HK$205 million above the upset price.
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The final bid for the 53,000 sq. ft. of land part of a reclaimed area on the Hong Kong water- front adjoining the Star Ferry concourse made by the Hong Kong Land & Investment Agency Co. Ltd.
No sooner had bidding ended than the com- pany's general manager, Mr. Vernon Roberts, re- leased details of a plan to develop the site at a cost of a further HK$100 million by the erection of a rectangular tower rising to 50 storeys the tallest yet in S.E. Asia.
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The building, designed by Palmer and Turner, will reach 600 ft. above ground level. It will con- tain office accommodation and will be some 18 storeys taller than any building in Central District at present.
Mr. Roberts announced that site preparation and foundation work would start as soon as possi- ble after the property was handed over by Govern- ment on December 1, 1970. Construction work would take about three years and the building would be occupied in three stages from late 1972.
The tower will occupy about one third of the 53,000 sq. ft. site, the remainder being laid out as a landscaped garden. Consultants for the project in- clude: Palmer and Turner, architects; Mitchell and McFarlane, consulting engineers; J. Roger Preston & Partners, mechanical and electrical engineers; and Langdon Every and Seah, quantity surveyors.
Model of tower development with Star Ferry concourse in right foreground
Central Hong Kong showing site for 50-storey tower
Far East BUILDER, July 1970
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