URA issues acquisition offers for an industrial building redevelopment pilot scheme project in Cheung Sha Wan
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) today (Tuesday) issued acquisition offers to owners of an industrial building redevelopment project at Yu Chau West Street in Cheung Sha Wan in accordance with its newly refined acquisition policy for the pilot scheme.
Eligible owners of industrial properties of Nos. 777 - 783 Yu Chau West Street, Cheung Sha Wan, Kowloon, will be offered the market value of the property plus an industrial ex-gratia allowance (calculation based on saleable area). The assessed average market value for ground floor premises is about $14,005 per square foot saleable area while that of the upper floor premises (excluding rooftop) is about $4,751 per square foot saleable area. The acquisition offers have recently been deliberated and approved by the Land, Re-housing and Compensation Committee of the URA Board.
Property owners will have 60 days to consider the acquisition offers.
In line with the established mechanism, the URA has appointed two independent valuation firms for the assessment of the market value of the industrial property and adopted the higher valuation for making the purchase offers. The whole process is virtually transparent, open and fair.
In determining the acquisition offers, the URA has fine-tuned the acquisition policy for calculation of the ex-gratia allowance for owners under the industrial building redevelopment pilot scheme.
"Taking into account the recent price movement of the industrial property market, the URA has taken a proactive approach to refine its acquisition policy for industrial building pilot scheme projects so as to assist the affected owners to cover the costs and expenses to be incurred in purchasing a replacement property by them," said Director (Property & Land) of the URA, Mr William Wan.
Under the refined policy, an owner affected by the project will be offered an ex-gratia allowance equivalent to 10% of the market value of his property, or an ex-gratia allowance equivalent to 1.5 times of the prevailing ex-gratia allowance basic rate adopted by the Government (Government Basic Rate determined in December 2013) times the saleable area, whichever is higher. The prevailing Government Basic Rates are about $ 272 and $250 per square foot for ground-floor and upper-floor premises respectively.
If the owner is an operator himself, he will also be offered an additional ex-gratia allowance equivalent to 2.5 times the Government Basic Rate times the saleable area. Furthermore, an owner-operator is entitled to making business loss claim in lieu of accepting the ex-gratia allowance based on the Government Basic Rate.
For tenant-operator, URA will offer 2.5 times of the Government Basic Rate times the saleable area.
The Yu Chau West Street industrial building redevelopment project covers an area of about 1,393 square metres. Built in 1962, the conditions of the 10-storey building are varied with unauthorised structures. The existing building contains a number of operators for non industrial-related uses.
The URA's initial proposal is to redevelop the site to provide about 16,700 square metres of office and retail floor spaces. It is tentatively scheduled for completion by 2019/2020. The site is currently zoned for "Other Specified Uses (Business)" on the Draft Cheung Sha Wan Outline Zoning Plan.
The URA will organise briefings for affected owners and tenants next week to explain to them the acquisition policy for the project. An urban renewal social service team staffed by professional social workers of the Salvation Army, which has been appointed by Urban Renewal Fund Limited, will provide assistance that occupiers may need. The contact number of the social service team is 3586 3095. Affected occupiers can also visit the URA's Sham Shui Po Neighbourhood Centre in person; or call the URA's Hotline at 2588 2333 for enquiries.
(ENDS)