Empire Group has plans to invest $769 million to redevelop a 50-year-old building in Hong Kong, according to Hong Kong–based media outlets.
The Mission’s The Mariners’ Club II Middle Road Kowloon building opened in 1863. It was called “A Sailors’ Home.” Mission’s The Mariners’ Club is a welfare service provider for seafaring communities in Hong Kong as well as sailors visiting the city. It offers capsule-like hotel rooms, a world-class swimming pool and the services of a small Anglican church.
The new 42-story building will total 3.7 million feet and will include a 50,00-square-foot clubhouse in the lower levels and a 500-room hotel on the upper levels, floors nine through 42. In addition, the lower floors will accommodate a garden, 75 rooms for seamen, a rebuilt church, conference rooms, a lounge and restaurants.
The redevelopment will ensure the mission is self-sustaining going forward and bring modern new facilities, including accommodation for seafarers and their families, according to The Sailors Home and Missions to Seamen, the operator of The Mariners’ Club.
Empire Group beat Henderson Land, Sino Land, Regal Hotel and Lai Sun Development in the private tender, according to local press reports.
South China Morning Post reported the redevelopment has a high prospect for tourism. The number of tourists in December last year was up 4.7 percent compared with the previous year, with the December hotel occupancy rate at more than 90 percent.
Annual visitor arrivals to Hong Kong last year rose 3.2 percent compared with the previous year, while yearly hotel room occupancy increased 2 percent to 89 percent, compared with 2016, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board.
