Hong Kong developer banks on arts and finance synergy in West Kowloon cultural hub

Hong Kong developer Sun Hung Kai Properties is betting big on arts and commercial projects at the West Kowloon Cultural District, banking on the city’s designated role as a cross-border asset and wealth management hub – even as the office rental market remains subdued.Sun Hung Kai Properties is positioning its projects to stand out within its 8 million sq ft portfolio of office and commercial space in West Kowloon, where it is also the sole developer in the arts hub building the Artist Square Towers (AST).The strategy aimed to prevent internal competition as it rolls out its latest grade A office tower, the International Gateway Centre (IGC), Lo King-wai, executive director of Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Agency, said in an exclusive interview.The entire development underscores the company’s ambition to create what it has dubbed the “Central 2.0” project – one combining arts and culture with strategic connectivity to mainland China and the airport via the high-speed rail terminus and the Airport Express at West Kowloon.That ambition is intertwined with the development of the arts hub, which until recently staved off a financial crisis by securing bank loans and planning a bond sale.Lo said the projection that Hong Kong could overtake Switzerland as the world’s top destination for cross-border wealth management could help foster a symbiotic ecosystem linking top-tier finance firms with cultural institutions in West Kowloon.