SHKP Quarterly

During the year, Hong Kong’s economy has been hard hit by the unprecedented challenges and difficulties resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The performance of the Group’s property investment portfolio has inevitably been affected by the sluggish economy and the lingering pandemic. Nevertheless, the Group is committed to investing in Hong Kong and has undaunted confidence in the city’s long-term prospects. It will further expand its diversified property investment portfolio through the development of new additions in the pipeline. A n umb e r o f l a r g e - s c a l e i n t e g r a t e d developments are underway. The most signif icant development is the prime commercial site atop the High Speed Rail Hong Kong West Kowloon Terminus, which was acquired through government tender for HK$42,232 million in late 2019 when the city was hit by local social incidents. The site is Hong Kong’s largest commercial land plot in recent years in terms of site area, with a developable gross floor area of 294,000 square metres (3.16 million square feet). It is strategically located atop the city’s only High Speed Rail station, providing excellent transpor tation connectivit y. Under the existing plan, the site will be developed into a landmark project, comprising about 260,100 square metres (2.8 million square feet) of grade-A offices and approximately 32,400 square metres (349,000 square feet) of premium shopping space. Subsequently, the Group disposed of a 50% interest of the office portion of the project to two long- term strategic investors: the Kwok Family Companies and Ping An Life. The retail portion of the project remains wholly-owned by the Group. The introduction of long-term strategic investors in the project should act as a catalyst to attract more multinational corporations and leading financial institutions to move their operations to this landmark project, thus further strengthening the reputation and market position of the project and that of the adjacent ICC as a key business and financial hub in both Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. The Group has built several large-scale integrated complexes during the economic ups and downs in the past few decades. A number of them have become Hong Kong landmarks, the two most notable of which are IFC and ICC. IFC development in Central - 1996 In 1996, the Group participated in property development atop Airport Express Hong Kong Station in the form of a joint venture. The Hong Kong Station project, named IFC, boasts gross floor area of approximately 418,100 square metres (4.5 million square feet). Total investment (excluding interests) of the phased development amounted to HK$23,000 million, which was the city’s largest single development at the time. Before Hong Kong’s handover, the Group decided to take part in a huge investment project and establish its first major investment property in the core of Central, representing a vote of confidence by the Group in Hong Kong’s future. The IFC development project comprises two grade-A office towers, a premium shopping mall, the Four Seasons Hotel and Four Seasons Place serviced suites. The One IFC office tower and mall were completed in late 1998, and the 88-storey Two IFC was the city’s tallest and the world’s third-tallest building on completion in 2003. The office towers become a bold icon on the Central waterfront. As the Group’s first major establishment in the core of Central, IFC was designed to closely meet the needs of customers. Since the target tenants for IFC were international financial institutions, the project team visited the financial centres in United Kingdom and the United States to learn about world- class specifications that suited the business needs of potential tenants. As a result, major amendments were made, including changing A commitment to building Hong Kong and developing new landmarks ICC, West Kowloon 西九龍環球貿易廣場 專題故事 Vol 97 • Q3 2020 • SHKP Quarterly 4