1 Wan Chai market may get reprieve as talks continue
UnaSo, SCMP 22 September 2007

The 70-year-old Wan Chai market building may get a reprieve.
Newly appointed Urban Renewal Authority chairman Barry Cheung Chun-yuen said on Friday that talks with developers on the possible preservation of the historical building were still continuing.

Cheung said the authority understood the public's concern and was seeking a solution.

He said legally Chinese Estates Holdings had every right to build on the site, but this did not mean nothing more could be done.

"This project has already been delayed and both the developer and the authority want to see the issue resolved as soon as possible," he said.

The company, controlled by billionaire Joseph Lau Luen-hung, had signed an agreement with the authority in 1996 to build three luxury residential blocks.

Two towers have already been completed and the plan was for the market to be demolished to make way for the third.

On August 4, Chinese Estates executive director Lau Wai-ming revealed the company was in talks with the authority on the future of the market, raising optimism for its survival.

Cheung, who is in the pertrochemical business and has worked with the authority's predecessor, the Lands Development Authority, confirmed the talks were going well.

Constructed in 1937, the Bauhaus- styled market was rated a Grade III historical building by the Antiquities Advisory Board in 1990.

Since there is no need to compensate landowners, as is the case with other redevelopment projects, Cheung said finding a solution would be easier.

When asked if an exchange of land was feasible, Cheung was noncommittal. However, sources in the authority said this alternative is unlikely and that a financial settlement was the smoother option.

With several other issues at hand, the Wan Chai market issue is unlikely to be resolved before the end of the current fiscal year next March 31.

However, Cheung was confident that before that date, two other controversial projects - Nga Tsin Wai Village and Mong Kok "Sneakers Street" - would be announced and kicked into motion.

He said revamping Sneakers Street into a shopping mall for sports goods would bring in even more business.

After seeing the horrid living conditions in rundown districts in 1997, Cheung said he understood the public's sentiment for heritage conservation and that his job is to help people live better.

He said most residents he met in the old districts wanted to get compensation and to move out.

"I can't believe that in today's Hong Kong, tens of thousands of people are still living in such conditions. It is unacceptable," he said.

The authority, established six years ago, hopes to finish 225 projects in 20 years. To date, 193 projects remain on that list. "Not all the projects will make money. Some like Sneakers Street will lose money. But we still have to do it to renew our community," he said.

In the wake of rising heritage concerns, Cheung said any urban renewal policy revamp would be the government's call.

Development Bureau chief Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor had earlier mentioned the possibility of a "compensation first" redevelopment policy.

Cheung said the authority will follow government policy.

2 Authority strives to save Wan Chai Market
Chester Yung and Martin Wong, SCMP 22 September 2007

The Urban Renewal Authority and a property developer are looking for ways to preserve Wan Chai Market.

The authority's new chairman, Barry Cheung Chun-yan, said the redevelopment was bound by a business contract signed 10 years ago.

"However, it doesn't mean we can't do anything. We have listened to the voices of residents and we are looking for a solution [to preserve it]."

Mr Cheung said the authority had exchanged opinions with the developer. "Both of us are very positive."

The three-storey building, built in 1937 on the corner of Wan Chai Road and Queen's Road East, is one of only two well-preserved markets in the Bauhaus style left in the world. The other is in Phnom Penh.

Redevelopment plans were first floated in 1991 by the Land Development Corporation, the authority's predecessor. In 1996, it sold the project to Chinese Estates Holdings, which is owned by tycoon Joseph Lau Luen-hung.

Wan Chai district councillors and leading architects have urged the authority and the owner of the market to rule out demolition in any development proposal.

Two more pre-war buildings that were to have been demolished to make way for a 31-storey residential high-rise in Yu Lok Lane, Western district, will be spared in an effort to preserve the area's atmosphere.
Under the original plan, only two of the 21 residential blocks built in the 1940s and '50s were to have been kept.

During a meeting yesterday, members of the Town Planning Board said retaining only two of the buildings was not enough.

Board member Ng Cho-nam said: "The original plan was to keep the buildings at No11 and No12 of the lane only. Now the buildings at No1 and No2 will also remain."

The authority had suggested keeping only the facades, but Dr Ng believed it would ruin the atmosphere. A Town Planning Board spokesman said the authority would abide by the decision.