Hong Kong’s Woo Family Wins Premium Residential Site For $1.5 Billion

Billionaire Peter Woo’s Wharf Development managed to beat out Hong Kong’s wealthiest property tycoons in bidding for a premium residential site in one of the city’s most exclusive neighborhoods.

The Hong Kong government said late on Wednesday that Wharf had been awarded a plot located on the Peak for HK$12 billion ($1.5 billion), marking the first sale of a parcel in the prestigious neighborhood since 2011.

Wharf is one of the largest private property owners on the Peak, and has many years of experience meeting the “ultra-high expectations” of buyers of such luxury properties, said Stephen Ng, chairman and managing director of the Wharf Holdings.

The acquisition of the site on Mansfield Road, which can supply up to around 259,000 square feet of floor area, will double Wharf’s land bank on the Peak to over 500,000 square feet. Wharf’s current projects on the Peak include redeveloping seven ultra-luxury residences at 11 Plantation Road and another eight at 77 Peak Road.

Hong Kong’s residential property market has recently been weighed down by the city’s high unemployment rate and economic recession. Property consulting firm Knight Frank expects luxury housing prices in 2021 to remain flat or fall by 5% at most, given that border restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic will continue to limit the number of buyers from mainland China.

The government’s tender for the site on Mansfield Road attracted bids from Li Ka-shing’s CK Asset Holdings, Lee Shau Kee’s Henderson Land Development, the Kwok family’s Sun Hung Kai Properties.

Established in 1886, Wharf’s legacy is visible throughout Hong Kong, from Times Square in Causeway Bay to the Harbour City mall on the city’s waterfront and the historic Star Ferry.

Woo became the chairman of Wharf and its parent company Wheelock & Co. in 1986, after the retirement of his father-in-law, the shipping tycoon Pao Yue-kong (Y.K. Pao).

Woo expanded the family’s business into telecommunications, broadband internet and cable TV before passing the helm to his son Douglas as the chairman of Wheelock in 2014. The following year, Stephen Ng, Woo’s right-hand man, took over as chairman at Wharf.