URA’s first project successfully sold by public auction under Facilitating Services (pilot scheme)
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) announced the first successful joint sale by public auction for a project under its Facilitating Services (pilot scheme) at 67 - 71 Lion Rock Road in Kowloon City today (Thursday) with 100% owners' participation. This marks another milestone of the Authority in Hong Kong's urban renewal.
The facilitating services is one of the initiatives set out in the 2011 Urban Renewal Strategy which states that the URA may take up a "facilitator" role to help property owners in amalgamating their property interests for joint sale in the market. This enables the redevelopment model of the URA to take a more diverse form and speed up the pace of urban renewal.
Occupying a site area of about 3,534 square feet, this project involves three four-storey blocks built in 1949, comprising nine upper floor residential units and three ground floor shop units. The site, which is zoned R(A)2, can develop a maximum gross floor area of about 26,508 square feet for residential development or a maximum gross floor area of 31,810 square feet for a composite residential-commercial development.
Today's joint sale was conducted by Centaline Surveyors Limited based on the reserve price and the sharing ratio schedule which has been assessed by a valuer and agreed by all participating owners who signed the joint sale agreement. The project was sold at $242 million.
"The URA is delighted to see that our co-ordination among the property owners has brought to fruition the successful joint sale of their property interests today. This has helped owners releasing the redevelopment value of their properties, achieving financial gain, and most importantly, reducing urban decay in Hong Kong," said Ms Iris Tam, Managing Director of URA. The URA has established a wholly-owned subsidiary, Urban Redevelopment Facilitating Services Company Limited, to implement the pilot scheme.
Ms Tam also said this premier success in joint sale of this project has proved that the Facilitating Services (pilot scheme) is a viable means in helping owners of buildings in multiple-ownership to assemble titles which serves as the first step towards redeveloping their properties. But the key is they have to work as one.
Since the launch of the Facilitating Services (pilot scheme) in July 2011, the URA has received 11 applications, of which four are currently under processing.
(ENDS)