About one third of the flats in Mt Pavillia have been sold, Sharon Lam, a sales lady with New World Development, said. This is astonishing, because none of the apartments is priced at under $20 million. Sharon showed us around the 680-unit development on Clearwater Bay Road with Owen, a security guard.
Impressions:
- Mt Pavillia boasts a “Sculpture Park”. It has four sculptures, two of which, in our opinion, were a waste of money.
- The central grounds are thickly wooded, which is surprising because hundreds of kids who will soon be living there.
- The most attractive feature of Mt Pavillia is the curvy white gallery building you can see at the entrance when driving by. Beautifully designed by Korean architect Minsuk Cho, the top two floors are available to rent on a daily basis.
- The place is over-staffed. It crawls with guards, minders and sales people. One pities the grey-uniformed little girl assigned to go up and down all day, or at least during her shift, operating a lift so dark you can hardly see her.
New World Development charges like the proverbial bull: a 1920 sq ft flat with a roof costs $137.24 million, according to the price list we were given. At the other end of the scale, an 892 sq ft apartment is priced at $23.57 million. NWD’s public relations department confirmed 228 units have been sold. Sharon said buyers are already moving in.
The sculptures dotted about the central grounds look to us like The Mattress, Children’s Blocks, The Apple and Tangled Necklace.* Only the latter two are appealing to the eye; the others are ugly or boring. What New World sees in The Mattress and Children’s Blocks escapes us. The grounds, however, are most attractive with shrubbery, flowers and water courses meandering through them. In places the gardens are reminiscent of Hong Kong Park. An Amsterdam studio has created children’s play areas like monster bird-cages with climbing frames and slides. Residents will be able to use a large clubhouse also brilliantly designed by Minsuk Cho.
The curvilinear gallery building called White Yard has a restaurant on the ground floor, a grocery on the first floor and 5000sq ft of “multi-purpose space” available to rent on the second and third floors. Both the restaurant, St Bart’s, and the grocery, Feather and Bone, are operated by Sai Kung’s Castelo Group. St Bart’s was open when we visited at noon on a Wednesday but empty. Feather and Bone was closed. A notice said it was shut temporarily for licensing reasons. Sharon said she thought it would open as the estate fills up with residents.
Matthew Ho of New World’s public relations said the gallery, by far the best in the Sai Kung/CWB area, can be rented for product launches, fashion displays, art shows and so on. The rent will depend on date and type of business, club, gallery or NGO using the space. A known fashion brand will hold an event there from March 18 to 24.
* What we have called The Mattress is in fact named by artist Tatiana Trouve as “The Waterfall”. It is supposed to be a water feature but was dry when we visited. Tangled Necklace was designed by Jean-Michel Othoniel who calls it “Clearwater Bay Rebounds”. Glistening balls suggesting water droplets form the infinity symbol. Kum Chi-keung created The Apple which he calls “Share”. A giant apple is cut so it becomes a chair. Gao Wei-gang designed what looks to us like Children’s Blocks.
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