In my last blog I defined luxury with a trip to the ultimate Hong Kong haven of wealth, Repulse Bay. This time I want to do something a bit different, define a uniquely Hong Kong concept of luxury, the high-rise estate. They are often rented and sold for very middle-class prices, for ex, about $1500USD for a 1200sf 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom. But in any other country these flats, and the amenities packaged into the estate, would be unaffordable, full stop.
Should I call this Middle-class Luxury? Or is there a better phrase?
I will struggle with coining a phrase later, but first some background. In Hong Kong there are what we call New Towns, where the government and developers wave a wand and- shazam!- create instant cities. This magic occurs in the New Territories, formerly villages protected by laws guarding their traditional lifestyles. The villagers, no longer keeping these lifestyles anyway, and realizing that 30 to 700 USD per square foot brings them more dosh than keeping a few sheep, happily offload their sacred birthrights. To do so, they use a complex system of land exchange that would spin any head but the most experienced New Territory lawyer (and spin a few ancestors in their still protected shrines).
Then, the bulldozers come in and within a few years, you have 50 to 100 new skyscrapers up to 65 stories in height, sculpted grounds, shopping malls and infrastructures such as bus terminals, train stops and highways.
Let’s visit Tung Chung, a New Town near the new airport, on the West Side of Lantau Island. This island was previously reachable only by boat and boasted some untouched ancient villages of fishermen and duck farmers. Fast forward to 2008, the duck farmers are millionaires and you have five estates, including one public housing, with commercially pandering names like Caribbean Coast, Coastal Skyline, La Rossa (Italy looms large in Hong Kong developers’ imaginations) and Tung Chung Crescent. The newest and most illustrative of my new term Middle-class Luxury, is Caribbean Coast.
This pantheon to Ultimate Client Satisfaction consists of 16 towers of 65 floors each forming a plaza around three outdoor pools, a covered elevated walkway, two shuttle bus drop-offs and a park. Surrounding the complex is a broad brick sidewalk and bike path lined with palm trees and really beautiful horticulture. On one side of the complex are mountains, on the other, sea. There is always a breeze.
Enter the clubhouse to at least one attendant wishing you a good day and a reading room with magazines. Descend the circular staircase and look up to the high ceiling atrium or down two landings to the lower level with fountains. The front looks out 20-foot high windows onto seaviews. The second floor leads to the indoor pool, massage rooms, saunas, Japanese baths and spas complete with small houseframes overhead and cut stone underfoot. To the left are tennis courts. The lowest level houses the gym, several more reading rooms, a squash court, karaoke rooms, a mini golf range and a small bowling alley.
Entering any of the 16 buildings, a security guard holds the door and greets you. Two or three receptionists are there. Cleaning people are always around. The lobby is marble walls and floors, twenty-foot ceilings with chandeliers, and four Otis lifts that are fast- no waiting. Behind the mailboxes is a glass wall beyond which is the children’s playground with rubber mats. A huge version is outside in the park.
A three bedroom, two bathroom flat, 1200 sf, as mentioned is about $1500USD, stone floors, chandeliers in the restroom and often a balcony. Bust a wall between two flats and you have 2400sf and six bedrooms for about $3000 US.
Plunk this estate down anywhere in the west and it only the wealthiest could live here. But many residents of Caribbean Coast are flight attendants, teachers, store clerks. How? Why?
This Middle-Class Luxury is possible because of low labor and material costs. But there is something else: Hong Kong attention to detail and service. When they built this, they really wanted to give high quality of life. All along the walkway you either see or hear man-made waterfalls and running brooks and fountains. Jog at night and the lights on the walkway throw wonderful shadows through the well-tended shrubbery. There are always groundskeepers watering and clipping and cleaners scrubbing. And although the architecture is sometimes an alarming pastiche of kitsch (a twenty foot high surfboard sculpture greets you at one entrance) still, the design is incredibly user-convenient, and generally looks and feels, well- luxurious.
So, maybe luxury doesn’t always come with a high price tag. If Middle-class Luxury is not new in general, it is certainly new to me, a westerner. And it’s another reason to invest or live in Hong Kong, if you are considering it. PS- If anyone can think of a better phrase, please send it in.
Robert Diefendorf
President, Global Welcome, Estate Agency, Hong Kong
Robert can be reached at Robert Diefendorf
