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Yet Another Horrendous Move by the URA in Hong Kong

Posted: July 1st, 2009 | No Comments »

wedding card streetThe Hong Kong Standard reports that the horribly misnamed bunch of cultural philistines and vandals the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) in partnership with their cronies in the property and land development business have carved up the “redevelopment” of Lee Tung Street in Wan Chai, formerly better known as Wedding Card Street.

It seems that Hopewell Holdings, best known for the incredibly ugly Hopewell Centre, will lead the redevelopment along with the equally barbaric Sino Land. The Wedding Card Street development comprises 88,500 sq ft and will include all the usual horrors so beloved of Hong Kong’s rapacious property developers – 1,000 luxury residences, a themed shopping mall and (we’ll wait and see if this actually happens) just three preserved and refurbished buildings.

DSC01506Most ridiculously Wedding Card Street is already history – it was raised in December 2007 and is now just an empty site – it is too late to save it as you can see from the pics opposite. Yet the “themed” element will be a “Wedding City”. Looking at the images of what will be there in the Standard it’ll basically be just another shopping mall with plenty of private open space, the inevitable mob of security people in black suits with earpieces and repetitive dreariness.

The destruction of Lee Tung Street marks yet another victory for the property developers and yet another loss for Hong Kong’s heritage and local communities. Family run businesses established for generations gone; Starbucks and all the other drab chains installed. Whither Hong Kong.



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