Festival Walk
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Festival Walk is a
shopping centre A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...
in
Kowloon Tong Kowloon Tong () is an area of Hong Kong located in Kowloon. The majority of the area is in the Kowloon City District. Its exaclocationis south of the Lion Rock, north of Boundary Street, east of the East Rail line and west of Grampian Road. It ...
, Hong Kong developed jointly by Swire Properties and CITIC Pacific between 1993 and 1998. At the time of its opening in November 1998, it was the biggest shopping mall in Hong Kong. Festival Walk was acquired by Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust ("MNACT"). There are also four floors of offices on top of the mall.


Location

Festival Walk is located in
Kowloon Tong Kowloon Tong () is an area of Hong Kong located in Kowloon. The majority of the area is in the Kowloon City District. Its exaclocationis south of the Lion Rock, north of Boundary Street, east of the East Rail line and west of Grampian Road. It ...
, and is directly linked to
Kowloon Tong station Kowloon Tong is a station on MTR's and in New Kowloon, Hong Kong. The station serves Kowloon Tong and its vicinity, including Yau Yat Tsuen, the Festival Walk shopping centre, City University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Baptist University. ...
, which is an interchange station of the
East Rail line The East Rail line () is one of the ten lines that form MTR, the rapid transit, mass transit system in Hong Kong. The railway line starts at Lo Wu station, Lo Wu or Lok Ma Chau station, Lok Ma Chau, both of which are Border checkpoint, b ...
and the
Kwun Tong line The Kwun Tong line () is a rapid transit line of the MTR network in Hong Kong. Starting at Whampoa station, Whampoa in Hung Hom and ending at Tiu Keng Leng station, Tiu Keng Leng in Tseung Kwan O, Sai Kung Town, Sai Kung, the route has 1 ...
of Hong Kong's
Mass Transit Railway The Mass Transit Railway system, known locally by the initialism MTR, is a rapid transit system in Hong Kong and the territory's principal mode of Rail transport in Hong Kong, railway transportation. Operated by the MTR Corporation (MTRCL), ...
. It also has a pedestrian link to the
City University of Hong Kong The City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) is a public research university in Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1984 as the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and formally established as the City University of Hong Kong in 1994 ...
.


History

Construction of the mall commenced in 1994 and was completed in 1998.Festival Walk
, Swire Properties. Retrieved 23 July 2007
Significant challenges were faced in the creation 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 The Kwun Tong line () is a rapid transit line of the MTR network in Hong Kong. Starting at Whampoa station, Whampoa in Hung Hom and ending at Tiu Keng Leng station, Tiu Keng Leng in Tseung Kwan O, Sai Kung Town, Sai Kung, the route has 1 ...
of the
MTR The Mass Transit Railway system, known locally by the initialism MTR, is a rapid transit system in Hong Kong and the territory's principal mode of Rail transport in Hong Kong, railway transportation. Operated by the MTR Corporation (MTRCL), ...
run through the full length of the site. During the construction of the building's four basement levels, 460,000 m³ of earth had to be removed.Festival Walk
,
City University of Hong Kong The City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) is a public research university in Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1984 as the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and formally established as the City University of Hong Kong in 1994 ...
. Retrieved 23 July 2007
Festival Walk was jointly owned by Swire Properties and CITIC Pacific until 2006, when Swire Properties bought out the 50% stake held by its partner. In July 2011, Mapletree Investments acquired the property for HK$18.8 billion (approximately US$2.4 billion), making it the world's largest retail real estate deal in 2011. In 2015, it was announced that the AMC Cinema, a major anchor tenant, would move to
Yuen Long Yuen Long is a town in the western New Territories, Hong Kong. To its west lie Hung Shui Kiu (), Tin Shui Wai, Lau Fau Shan and Ha Tsuen, to the south Shap Pat Heung and Tai Tong, to the east Au Tau and Kam Tin (), and to the north Nam Sang Wa ...
due to a rent increase that the director of Broadway Circuit (operator of the AMC chain in Hong Kong) called "very astonishing". The AMC cineplex had been a tenant of Festival Walk for over 17 years. The cinema was replaced by an eight-screen Festival Grand Cinema in 2016.


Stores and restaurants

Festival Walk has a variety of stores and restaurants on multiple levels.


Configuration and positioning

Festival Walk comprises some one million square feet of retail space. It has approximately 220 shops and restaurants, a
multiplex cinema A multiplex is a movie theater complex with multiple screens or auditoriums within a single complex. They are usually housed in a specially designed building. Sometimes, an existing venue undergoes a renovation where the existing auditoriums a ...
and an ice rink. Located above the mall is an additional of office space.Property – Hong Kong: Festival Walk
, Swire Pacific. Retrieved 23 July 2007
Festival Walk's three level car park can accommodate up to 830 cars. Festival Walk is positioned as a "comfortable" middle-market mall with the emphasis on service rather than price. The relatively spacious stores are mid-range to high-end and include brands such as Agnes B flagship store, Calvin Klein Jeans, Hollister, H&M, Juicy Couture and Kate Spade New York. Like malls in many western countries, Festival Walk has information booths to assist shoppers.


Design and environmental features

The seven-storey shopping mall occupies three lower-ground levels, a ground level and three levels above ground. A six-level atrium, some 120 m long and 30 m wide atrium cuts longitudinally through the interior of the mall. A glass skylight over the atrium provides natural light to the interior of the building. There is a food court on the mall's topmost floor, with a view of the indoor skating rink. Festival Walk is equipped with a waste management system for all food service outlets within the mall. An organic food digester was installed to accelerate the decomposition of
food waste The causes of food going uneaten are numerous and occur throughout the food system, during food production, production, food processing, processing, Food distribution, distribution, Grocery store, retail and food service sales, and Social clas ...
into waste water and food residue which is then discharged harmlessly into the sewerage system.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 the system's high energy efficiency has saved 5 million kWh each year.


Financial transactions

The development was a 50:50 joint venture between Swire Properties 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. In January 2006, in Hong Kong's biggest property deal, Swire Properties paid HK$6.18 billion to buy out its partner's half share. In July 2007, it was announced that Swire Pacific was contemplating listing the property as a
real estate investment trust A real estate investment trust (REIT, pronounced "reet") is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of real estate, including office and apartment buildings, studios, warehouses, hos ...
. In July 2011, Mapletree Investments acquired Festival Walk at a property value of HK$18.8 billion which was the largest global retail real estate deal in 2011 In 2013, Festival Walk was divested to Mapletree's fourth real estate investment trust, the Mapletree Greater China Commercial Trust, as one of its two seed assets in 2013. In 2018, Mapletree Greater China Commercial Trust renamed as Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust upon completion of acquisition of the Japan portfolio. The mall is now managed by Mapletree North Asia Property Management Limited.


Incidents


2014 roof damage

At approximately 9:00 pm (0800 GMT) on 30 March 2014 hailstones the size of golf-balls shattered the ceiling windows of Festival Walk during a heavy thunderstorm, causing rain to pour straight into the interior of the mall. Some sections of interior ceiling collapsed and ankle-deep flooding was reported. Water from the shopping mall overflowed into the attached railway station. Mapletree Greater China Commercial Trust Management, the manager of Mapletree Greater China Commercial Trust, which owns Festival Walk, said its staff were on site to render assistance."Heavy rain breaks roof, causes flooding in Festival Walk mall in Hong Kong"
''ST''. 31 March 2014
However, mall management were criticised for failing to alert the public through the mall's website and via relevant social media networks. Evacuation of the public was also done poorly, as at 10:00 pm the public was still on scene sending live images to social media networks.


2019-2020 Hong Kong protests

In the evening on a Tuesday, 12 November 2019, Festival walk was stormed and vandalised by
protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...
ers. many of the glass barriers were shattered leaving broken glass scattered in the main areas of the mall, including the main entrance and bottom floors, most ground floor windows in the mall were also shattered or vandalised. The
Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen pinophyta, conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, associated with the celebration of Christmas. It may also consist of an artificial tree of similar appearance. The custom was deve ...
, set up every year inside Festival Walk to celebrate
Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...
, was set on fire by rioters using
Molotov cocktail A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see '') is a hand-thrown incendiary weapon consisting of a frangible container filled with flammable substances and equipped with a Fuse (explosives), fuse (typically a glass bottle filled wit ...
s and petrol bombs. The fire was dealt with using hoses.


See also

* Ice rinks in Hong Kong


References


External links

*
Official Festival Walk Glacier websiteOfficial Festival Walk Shopping News website
{{Shopping centres in Hong Kong Shopping malls established in 1998 Shopping centres in Hong Kong Yau Yat Tsuen Swire Group Arquitectonica buildings