“Good times or bad times, there are still ultra-rich people paying whatever needed to get what they like,” as the South China Morning Post quoted a Hong Kong real estate rep this week. Hard to argue with that when parking spots are trading hands at close to a million bucks.
You probably already know that Hong Kong is an ultra-dense city. And though if you’ve read anything about it recently, it’s probably been along the lines of “large-scale protests over democracy,” square footage is still pulling a premium out there.
A magnificent spline-shaped skyscraper in the Central area of Hong Kong Island known as The Center is particularly pricey. The building was reportedly sold in 2018 “...en bloc by the flagship company of Hong Kong’s wealthiest man Li Ka-shing for a record-breaking price to a consortium of 10 tycoons...” That price was $5.15 billion, per SCMP.
That publication seems to have gotten a decent dose of details on this recently-sold super expensive parking spot, beyond the comically depressing $969,655.98 (HK$7.6 million in local money) transaction price:
“B1-1023, is currently vacant, pending the completion of its sale. The lot is on the top of The Center’s three-level basement, reserved as executive parking for tenants only, and the sold unit sits against a wall with an alcove, which provides easier access for the owner, agents said.”
The spot is said to measure 134.5 square feet, which, by American standards, would be tiny. In fact, I might have to hedge and say SCMP might have made a typo because “300 [square feet] is a more commonly accepted figure” for a shopping center parking spot according to the American Planning Association.
But I guess you could squeeze an Aston Martin Cygnet or something similarly dimunitive into 134.5.
I asked David Tracy if his Hong Kong-based brother could pop over there and see how good the spot really is, but I’m going to go ahead and guess it’s not exactly publicly accessible.
I’ll see if we have the budget to send some grappling ropes and a tactical turtleneck out there so he can try and sneak in for us, but in the meantime, all I was able to dig up was an old Google StreetView shot of The Center’s parking garage entrance and one picture of the garage’s interior that I can’t share here for copyright reasons.
But if you click the link, you’ll see that spot in the picture is on “B3” not “B1,” so the $970,000 spot might look different. I mean, I hope it’s a little fancier, but to be honest I kind of doubt it.
Anyway, sure sounds like things are going good in Hong Kong these days. (They aren’t.)