Renovated, Yet Slated for Demolition
Matauwei Apartments under renovation last year
Standing at the corner of Ma Tau Wai Road and Bailey Street, less than a block from the spot where a tenement building suddenly collapsed in January, Matauwei Apartments looks much younger than its age would suggest.
That’s because last autumn, with money from the government’s Operation Building Bright programme, the 52-year-old building was repainted and renovated. Its bright blue facade and clean windows stand in contrast to the many decrepit blocks in the surrounding streets.
But Matauwei Apartments could soon be torn down. For the past 18 months property developer Henderson Land has been buying flats in the building, which it intends to redevelop. This has left some residents perplexed: why was a building renovated with public money when it was slated for demolition?
“It’s certainly strange,” said one resident who has lived there for 40 years. “The government is still sending letters to us telling us to renovate this or that.”
He said it had been renovated three times over the course of its life.
He said that Richfield Realty, a company that helps property developers buy old buildings for redevelopment, has been helping Henderson Land buy flats for more than 18 months. Last spring, however, the building’s owners applied for a subsidy from Operation Building Bright, which approved the application and provided money for the renovations, which took place in September.
The Urban Renewal Authority, which manages Operation Building Bright with the Housing Society and the Development Bureau, confirmed that the owners of the Matauwei Apartments applied for a renovation subsidy in May last year. But a spokesman for the authority would not say whether the government was aware the building was being purchased for redevelopment when it approved the subsidy.
“Joining rehab schemes initiated either by the government, the Housing Society or the URA does not ban the individual owners from selling their properties,” he said.
Henderson is almost certain to reach the threshold of 80 per cent property resumption required to go ahead with its plan. Property transaction records show that more than 100 of the flats and shops in the Matauwei Apartments have already been sold. But the building’s owners still seem to be seeking subsidies for renovation. A notice from the owners’ corporation recently posted at the building’s entrance states an additional subsidy of HK$28,379 has been requested to revamp the plumbing. The phone number provided was answered by a woman who said she was the building’s concierge; she refused to answer any questions.
Elwyn Chan, a spokesman for Richfield Realty, declined to answer any specific questions about Matauwei Apartments. “We are only the middleman,” he said.
Henderson Land declined to answer questions sent to them. “We are not ready to disclose anything related to this project,” a spokeswoman said. The company’s 2009 annual report states that the building, which has a gross floor area of 23,031 sq ft, will be redeveloped into a project with a total of 207,279 sq ft.
Dr Li Ling-hin, an associate professor in the University of Hong Kong’s department of real estate and construction, said he did not know of another case where a building slated for redevelopment by a private company had been renovated using public money.
“It seems to be rather surprising that funds have been committed to rehabilitate the building, only to find out that the building will be torn down and rebuilt,” he said.
Peter Chan Yuen-chak, a real estate broker with an office on the ground floor of Matauwei Apartments, said that its owners had been initially reluctant to sell, but that January’s nearby building collapse had changed their minds. “It happened more quickly after that,” he said. “They feel it’s better for the Richfield people to buy them out.”
Operation Building Bright was originally meant to shore up old buildings. When it was launched last year, the government dedicated HK$1 billion to the programme. It proved so popular that an additional HK$1.5 billion was added to its budget.
Ian Brownlee, an urban planning consultant who has worked with the URA on several projects, considers Operation Building Bright to be a step forward for a government whose urban renewal policy has traditionally favoured redevelopment rather than restoration.
“It was met with such enthusiasm because all the owners of old buildings saw there was a place to go where they could get support and technical advice,” he said. “A lot of the buildings built in the 1950s are very good, structurally. Demolition removal is not the best way of [renewing an area]. It’s the last resort.”
He was incredulous when told that Matauwei Apartments would be redeveloped after having taken part in Operation Building Bright. “Are they really going to redevelop it?” he asked.
One woman who lives and owns a stationery shop in Matauwei Apartments, and who declined to be named, said there was “no conflict” between the fact that the building was renovated while slated for redevelopment. “What if the buyout doesn’t work? We’d have to keep living here. Might as well keep it in good shape,” she said.
This article originally appeared in the June 13, 2010 edition of the Sunday Morning Post.
Tags: Hong Kong, Kowloon, Redevelopment
