REDHILL Plaza, Paliburg Group's two-storey, 44,000-square-foot shopping centre in the south of Hong Kong Island, will adopt a distinctly North American accent, its developer say.
Scheduled to open early next year, the plaza is designed to mix service-type shops and stores on the ground floor with luxury American-style food and drink outlets on top.
There would be no traditional Hong Kong-style Chinese restaurants, and the shopping centre was not intended to cater to the mass market, according to Paliburg officials.
Czarina Man, senior marketing manager of Paliburg Estate Agent, said the plaza, which cost $200 million to build including the cost of the land, was intended 'as a community shopping centre very much in the North American mould'.
Ms Man said: 'Right now there is no shopping centre in the Redhill Peninsula area. There is not one place where local residents can go and shop and get the day-to-day necessities.' Redhill Plaza, being developed by Paliburg, which is chaired by Lo Yuk-sui, is in one of the wealthiest areas on the south of Hong Kong Island. It has a high concentration of expatriate families from America, Europe and Japan.
Many of the homes in the Redhill Peninsula development, about a 10-minute walk from the Plaza, cost about $20 million or more.
Equally pricey are some of the surrounding developments, like Pacific View, Hong Kong Parkview and the Repulse Bay estates.
The ground floor of the centre will feature a camera shop, a couple of real estate agents, a laundromat and valet service, a bakery, a barber shop, a hair salon and a 5,000 sq ft grocery store.
'We are inviting these shops because there are no such services available under one roof in the area,' Ms Man said.
The second floor will feature luxury restaurants, cafes and lounges, similar to some of the European, Asian and American restaurants, which can be found in Stanley or in some of the better Hong Kong hotels and shopping centres.
The roof will feature a playground equipped for children.
Paliburg officials hope to attract shoppers from Stanley, Repulse Bay, the Tai Tam area and the Redhill Peninsula development. Ms Man estimated that this area included about 40,000 people. It would also interest people from Kowloon.
Paliburg officials said 20 per cent to 30 per cent of the space had been leased by Centaline Properties, Midland Realty and Wellcome.
Rents were $40 per sq ft to $500 per sq ft, depending on the amount of space leased. A shop of about 300 sq ft would lease for $80 to $120 per sq ft, a Paliburg official said.
When the plaza opens next year, there will be about 20 to 30 shops.
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