Why the waterfront walkway in Quarry Bay getting a makeover is a good thing
Plans to build a factory along the street have been scrapped in favour of creating a leisure and tourism space
The original plans to build a factory on the site in Quarry Bay were very unpopular. A walkway overlooking Hong Kong’s iconic Victoria Harbour has been saved from demolition.
The landlord had planned to build a 25-storey factory along Hoi Yu Street on the Quarry Bay coast. Instead, it will undergo upgrades for leisure and tourism purposes, the Development Bureau said on Thursday.
Local residents and harbourfront authorities have hailed the deal as a “win-win”. The landlord, Fine Tower Associates, will give up two plots that it holds at the site covering 2,477 square metres, to purchase 8,532 square metres of adjacent government land instead.
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A building will still be constructed at the waterfront site but it will be a lower-rise complex for retail, hotel, leisure, and office use.
“Taking advantage of the harbourfront setting, the facilities will help turn the area into a leisure and tourism [space],” the bureau said.
Harbourfront Commission chairman Vincent Ng Wing-shun said the deal had put a stop to a project that was deeply unpopular with the public. Eastern district councillor Andrew Chiu Ka-yin, who was against the project, said it was a “victory of public opinion”.
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The original plan to build the factory was approved in 2001, but in 2003 the area was reclassified by officials as a space for “cultural and/or commercial, leisure and tourism related uses” and “open space”.
The factory proposal did not breach any planning or building regulations when it was approved. Building was due to begin last year but the bureau and the landlord began negotiations to explore other options.
“The community has expressed a wish that the industrial building … be replaced by a development more compatible with the surrounding environment,” a bureau spokesman said. “We are pleased that the lot owner has responded positively.”
Edited by Charlotte Ames-Ettridge