Langham Place
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Coordinates: 22°19′5.35″N 114°10′5.11″E / 22.3181528°N 114.1680861°E
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| Traditional Chinese: | 朗豪坊 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Langham Place | |
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| The office and hotel, Langham Place, Hong Kong | |
| Information | |
| Location |  Mong Kok, Hong Kong |
| Status | completed |
| Opening | 2004 |
| Height | |
| Roof | 255.1 m |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 59 |
| Floor area | 1.8 million sq. ft. |
| Companies | |
| Architect | Wong & Ouyang (HK) The Jerde Partnership |
| Developer | Great Eagle Group, Urban Renewal Authority |
| Owner | Champion REIT |
Langham Place is a business and commercial complex which opened in the fourth quarter of 2004 in Hong Kong, comprising a shopping mall, hotel and office tower. Located in the Mong Kok district of Kowloon, the complex occupies two entire blocks defined by Argyle Street, Portland Street, Shantung Street and Reclamation Street. Shanghai Street separates the hotel and office tower from the shopping mall.
The complex was the result of an urban renewal project under Land Development Corporation, later known as Urban Renewal Authority (URA). The project is to cleanse and modernise a dilapidated area of Kowloon previously known as a red light district, especially Portland Street.
The 59 storey Grade A office tower, Langham Place Office Tower, is the tallest in Kowloon at 255.1 m (837 ft). The complex has a gross floor area of 1.8 million sq. ft., houses the office tower, a 15 storey mall including 2 basements that spirals up to the 13th floor, and a 665 room hotel[1]. The mall is connected to the Mong Kok MTR station of the MTR via an underground passage (Exit C3), opened on 3 March 2005.
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[edit] History
The HK$10 billion project is a 50:50 joint development by the Great Eagle Group and the Urban Renewal Authority ("URA") of Hong Kong[2], to provide a modern and comfortable commercial space in the heart of Mong Kok.
The plan to redevelop part of the Mong Kok landscape was driven by the URA. The "Land Development Corporation", as it was then known, had spent some HK$4.4 billion to acquire the 129,120 sq ft (11,996 m2) site since approximately 1989[3]. It was the single largest project undertaken by Great Eagle[4], which had geared up significantly to finance the project[5]. An estimated HK$300 million land premium was paid by the developers to the Government[3].
[edit] Office tower
The office tower is a 255.1 metre (837 ft) tall skyscraper, is the 100th tallest building in the world and the tallest office building on the Kowloon peninsula when it opened.
The 59 story tower, which contains 770,000 sq ft (72,000 m2) of office space[1], was completed in 2004 after beginning construction in 1999 under the design of Wong & Ouyang (HK) and The Jerde Partnership. The tower has 59 floors above ground and 5 underground floors which are used as a car park. Each of the floors which are above ground have approximately 17,000 square feet (1,600 m2)[1], and contain offices.
As well as being the tallest building in Kowloon, the Langham Place Office Tower is the 90th tallest existing building in the world when measured up to the highest architectural point, which is the dome. The entire tower is covered in light-reflecting blue glass which is separated at two intervals by gray glass. The tower's dome illuminates at night on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in a light show where it slowly changes colour.
At its opening, office space was being let at rental prices ranging from HK$13 to HK$22 per sq ft per month[6].
In July 2005, wishing to reduce debt levels, Great Eagle announced the sale of individual floors of the Langham Place Office Tower, launched officially in August 2005[4].
On 14 February 2008, Champion REIT announced it would acquire Langham Place for HK$12.5 billion from Great Eagle. The consideration valued the retail portion at HK$12,519 per square foot and about HK$6,815 for the office portion.[7]
[edit] Hotel
The Langham Place Hotel is located at 555, Shanghai Street. Managed by the Langham Hotels International, it is the only 5 star hotel located in Mong Kok. Its 42 floors house 665 guest rooms, of which 280 "deluxe", 284 "executive", and 101 "Langham Hotel Club" rooms.
[edit] Shopping mall
 Langham Place "Xpresscalators" to the 4th floor |
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| Facts and statistics | |
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| Opening date | November 2004 |
| Developer | Great Eagle Group, Urban Renewal Authority |
| Owner | Champion REIT |
| Total retail floor area | 60,000 m² |
| No. of floors | 15 |
Due to the high land price, and the higher yield on retail property, Langham departs from the common western model of the flat shopping mall. The Langham mall is the second "vertical mall" in Hong Kong. Its 600,000 sq ft (60,000 m2). of retail space is configured over 15 levels, with 60,000 sq ft (6,000 m2). of space from the second basement level to third floor; from the fourth floor upwards the floor area is 40,000 sq ft (4,000 m2)[8].
There is a food court on the 4th and a cinema on the 8th run by UA Cinemas with six screens and 1,122 seats in total.
The rental model includes a base rent of between HK$50 to HK$300 psf[1], plus a variable component calculated based on 10 to 15% of retailers' turnover[6].
The mall opened in November 2004[9].
[edit] Unique design features
Happy Man - The 2,700-kilogram sculpture commissioned from American designer Larry Bell, at the front entrance of the arcade[9].
Xpresscalators - The longest escalators within a shopping mall in the territory[9]. A pair of them is located on the 4th floor leading up to the 8th floor, and another pair leads to the 12th floor. These long escalators have been designed to reduce the "horizontal drift" of shoppers, thus keeping them in the mall[8].
The Spiral - a section of the shopping mall from the 9th to 13th floor of the building.
Digital Sky - architectural feature on level 13 where computerised images are projected onto the ceiling the dining area. The Lighting was originally Designed and programmed By Jason Saunders of Photonic-Motion in Melbourne Australia, in sequence with video on a Wholehog 2 PC running midi time code.[9].
[edit] Cultural references
- The building is used as main background for the TVB drama series: Under the Canopy of Love.
[edit] Gallery
 Happy Man |
 Langham Place Hotel & Langham Place Tower up close |
 The Langham Place tower in the middle of Mongkok |
 The Langham Place towers at night, viewed from King's Park |
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Raymond Wang, Deals near on two office floors at Langham Place, The Standard, 3 September 2004
- ^ Nicole Kwok, Great Eagle see upturn for hotels, The Standard, 21 November 2003
- ^ a b Raymond Wang, Langham Place offices may reap $7b, The Standard, 2 July 2005
- ^ Eli Lau, Great Eagle hopes sale cuts gearing ratio to 50pc, The Standard, 13 May 2005
- ^ a b Eli Lau, Great Eagle sees annual Langham rent of $300m, The Standard, 18 November 2004
- ^ Alfred Liu, "Champion REIT buys Langham mall for $12.5b", The Standard, 15 February 2008
- ^ a b Danny Chung, Reach for the sky, The Standard, 9 December 2005
- ^ a b c d Sylvia Hui, 'Happy Man' to greet new Mong Kok mall shoppers, The Standard, 20 October 2004
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Langham Place |
- Official web site of Langham Place
- Official web site of Langham Place Hotel
- SkyscraperPage.com's entry
- Emporis.com - Building ID 100676
