HK apartment project on site 'smaller than a basketball court'

KUALA LUMPUR (July 12): Do you complain about how apartment units are getting increasingly small.

Well, you have not seen small until you check out The Paseo (pictured) in Hong Kong. Developed by Rykadan Capital, the site of the project is SMALLER THAN A BASKETBALL COURT.

The Paseo is Rykadan Capital’s first and only residential development.

According to a report from the South China Morning Post (SCMP), The Paseo houses 66 “tiny” flats and has generated sales of more than HK390 million (RM200.1 million) last year.

By the way, a standard basketball court measures 94ft by 50ft.

Rykadan acquired the 2,920 sq ft site at 7 Kwun Chung Street from the authorities for HK$194 million more than three years ago after beating numerous bidders.

“We have transformed from fitting-out work into property development since 2012, starting from commercial property. At the time, we wanted to have a try in residential development so we picked a tiny site,” William Chan, chairman of Hong Kong-listed Rykadan Capital, told SCMP.

“With such a small site, we can only build one flat on each floor, or two or three. That is the strategy we needed to decide on. But the housing market was hot at the time and buyers did not care about selling price per square foot. They were eager to enter the market as long as the lump sum was affordable,” said Chan.

“Our architect had suggested to me to be innovative by building four flats per floor, with each just more than 100 sq ft in size. But it was extremely small and I couldn’t imagine how people could live in [that space]. Eventually, we decided on a unit in size of slightly more than 200 sq ft.”

Chan’s company sold all of the Paseo’s flats at prices between HK$5 million and HK$6 million each (HK$22,000 psf to HK$30,000 psft).

The Paseo’s apartments are all studios and the development also has three storeys of shops.

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