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1. Rethink on Central site will hold up its sale

1. Rethink on Central site will hold up its sale
BARCLAY CRAWFORD and CHLOE LAI, SCMP 26 November 2005

Government plans to sell prime land in Central have been delayed after town planners ordered a reassessment of the site's historic value.

The move comes two days after a government official told the South China Morning Post that the government was aware remnants of Sun Yat-sen's former school stood on the Hollywood Road site.

The Lands Department said it would study the Town Planning Board decision that concessions would need to be made on the site of the former police married quarters before the sale could proceed.

"We will study the Town Planning Board's decision and consider an appropriate arrangement," the department said.

The decision follows a temporary freeze on the sale of 1.6 hectares of prime waterfront land in Oil Street, North Point, after the Town Planning Board ordered a review of the proposed housing density.

A review of the North Point site is likely to take at least two months to complete.

No date has yet been fixed for completion of a review of the site of the former police married quarters.

The planning board yesterday ordered further assessment of the historic value of a wall on the 62,400 sq ft site. It also acknowledged Central lacks green space - deciding to increase markedly the amount of public land on the development from the 1,000 square metres now allotted.

CB Richard Ellis had estimated the site to be worth at least $3.7 billion before any changes to the plan.

But the board said any moves to preserve the wall and increase the amount of public space would reduce the height and width of the building - and significantly reduce the land's value.

The turmoil over the sale and development concessions came two days after a senior project manager in the Antiquities and Monuments Office told the Post that the government knew about the historic wall and had even considered building a Sun Yat-sen museum on the site.

Last night, the government released a statement confirming it had considered building the Sun Yat-sen museum where the former police married quarters stand.

The admission is likely to bring further pressure from heritage activists and residents for the land to be declared a historic monument, which would stop all development.

Residents and activists had launched an appeal to have the site rezoned and turned into a "historical and cultural compound". Police stopped using the quarters in 1997, and a year later it was rezoned for residential development.

"Only by turning the site into open space can we preserve the historic features," said Roger Ho Yau-sheng, a spokesman for residents. "Is the government suggesting building residential high-rises is more important than preserving the history of the Chinese people?"