Festival Walk

infobox shopping mall |
shopping_mall_name = Festival Walk
又一城

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caption = façade of Festival Walk
location = Tat Chee Avenue, Yau Yat Chuen, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong
opening_date = November 1998
architect = Arquitectonica
developer = Swire Properties, CITIC Pacific
manager =
owner= Swire Properties
number_of_stores = 200
number_of_anchors =
parking = 850 spaces
floor_area = 1 million ft² (130,000 m² in GFA)
floors = 6 floors and 2 basement floor
website = [http://www.festivalwalk.com/ Festivalwalk.com]

Festival Walk is an upmarket shopping centre in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong owned by Swire Pacific. It was the biggest shopping mall in Hong Kong at its launch in November 1998. Festival Walk was developed jointly by Swire and CITIC Pacific in 1993-1998. In 2006, Swire bought out the 50% stake held by its partner.

Location

Festival Walk is in Yau Yat Chuen, right adjacent to the Kowloon Tong Railway Station, which is an interchange station of the East Rail Line and the Kwun Tong Line of the Mass Transit Railway. It is also in the vicinity of City University of Hong Kong.

Configuration

Festival Walk comprises some one million square feet of retail space: 200 shops, 27 restaurants, an 11 screen multiplex cinema, an ice rink; convert|220000|sqft|m2 of office space. [http://www.swirepacific.com/eng/about/property.htm Property - Hong Kong: Festival Walk] , Swire Pacific, retrieved 2007-07-23] There is also parking accommodation for 850 cars. There are three levels of car park offering a total of 850 spaces.

Design features

The shopping mall occupies two basement levels and two levels above ground. The central feature of Festival Walk is the 6-level high, 120 m long and 30 m wide atrium which cuts longitudinally through the interior. Its glass skylight provides natural light to the interior of the building. There is also a food court on the topmost floor.

Environmental features

The mall is equipped with a waste management system for the food service outlets within the compound. An organic food digester was installed to accelerate the decomposition of food waste into waste water and some food residue which is discharged normally into the sewerage system. [http://www.hk-beam.org.hk/fileLibrary/Spring%2007.pdf HK Beam newsletter] , spring 2007] The developers also installed a water-cooled air-conditioning system in 2002 at a cost of HK$13 million. The developer claims its high energy-efficiency has saved 5 million KWh each year.

Positioning

Festival Walk is positioned as a "comfortable" middle-market mall with the emphasis on service as opposed to price. Store interiors are relatively spacious, and its tenants are mostly mainstream "value for money" brands such as ESPRIT, taste and Marks & Spencer. More like malls in the west, the mall has information booths to assist shoppers. [R. Jane Singer, [http://www.iht.com/articles/1999/03/13/rhong.t.php Hong Kong Bargains Draw Mainlanders] , International Herald Tribune, March 13, 1999] Although praised for its spaciousness and its public amenities, Festival Walk's array of escalators were criticised as confusing and unwisely planned in a "Rate your mall" survey in 2007. [ [http://www.rfpmagazine.com/rfp_pages/news_stories/news16result.html Rate A Mall Survey Results Announced] , Retrieved 2007-07-23]

ite challenges

Its construction commenced in 1994, and it was completed in 1998. [http://www.swireproperties.com/EngText/swire+malls+festival.htm Festival Walk] , Swire Properties, retrieved 2007-07-23] Significant challenges were posed in the formation of the 21,000 m² site due to its terraced land form as well as its narrow land shape. The tunnels for the Kwun Tong Line of the MTR run through the full length of the site.

During the construction of the building with 4 basement levels, 460,000 m³ of earth had to be shifted. [http://www.cityu.edu.hk/CIVCAL/book/fest.html Festival Walk] , City University of Hong Kong, retrieved 2007-07-23]

Financial transactions

The development was a 50:50 joint venture between Swire and CITIC Pacific. The partners secured the plot in a Government land auction in 1993 with a HK$2.9 billion bid, and developed it at an estimated cost of $2.2 billion. [ Mark Clifford, [http://sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/newspaper/view/04_08.03/110710.pdf Back to China] , Far Eastern Economic Review, January 27, 1994] In January 2006, in Hong Kong's biggest property deal, Swire paid HK$6.18 billion to buy out its partner's half share. [ http://www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/news/englishnews/20060120/20060120_56_282761.html Swire to buy remaining stake in Festival Walk mall] , RTHK, January 20, 2006] In July 2007, it was announced that Swire Pacific was contemplating listing the property as a real estate investment trust [Tim LeeMaster & Yvonne Liu, "Swire considers Festival Walk reit", Page B1, South China Morning Post, July 12, 2007] .

References

External links

* [http://www.festivalwalk.com.hk/eng/index.htm Official website]