Tung Kin Land Investment (東建置業)

April 6, 2020 York Lo Articles

York Lo: Tung Kin Land Investment (東建置業)

Tung Kin’s ad for Tung Fat and Tung Lee building in 1962 (WKYP, 1962-8-25)

Tung Kin Land Investment Ltd was one of the active property developers in HK in the early 1960s and the firm was incorporated in 1958 with HK$1 million in capital by four directors of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals in 1957-58, three of whom were pioneers of the HK real estate industry which had been covered by earlier articles – namely Cheung Chan-hon (張鎮漢) of Cheong Lee Construction, Cheong Beng-Hooi (鍾明輝, alternate spelling of Chung Ming-fai) of Wah Yuen Investment and Kwan Kai-ming (關啟明) of Kiu Fung Investment and Kai Ming Investment. (FEER, 1958; Wah Kiu Yat Po, 1957-4-5) The firm had developed several residential, commercial and industrial buildings which are still standing after over half a century.

Left: picture and article about Chan Him being elected chairman of the Tung Wah Sports Club in 1957. (WKYP, 1957-10-25); Right: Chan Him (second from right) at the opening of the Shau Kei Wan branch of the United Chinese Bank in 1979. Left to right – bank chairman General S.K. Yee, Yu Lai-kwok, Chan, bank general manager Kwan To-ngai (KSEN, 1979-7-27)

The fourth director of Tung Kin who was also its manager was Chan Him (陳謙), who was also the manager of Chung Yuen Land Investment (中原建築置業) which operated out of Room 810 in the Central Building. (CGCC Membership Directory, 1965) During his tenure with Tung Wah, Chan was best known for his leadership of the affiliated Tung Wah Football Club (東華體育會), which was formed in 1931 and was part of the HK First Division Football League but has since been dissolved. Aside from Tung Wah, Chan was also a director of the Kowloon Chamber of Commerce and honorary life president of Chung Sing Benevolent Society and honorary life director of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce. (WKYP, 1957-4-5)

Ad for Tung Fat Building in 1961 (KSDN, 1961-8-12)

In 1958, Chan’s Chung Yuen developed the North Point Mansion (北角大廈) at 697-702 King’s Road next to the Camelpaint plant in North Point with flats starting at $27600 each as shown in the ad below. In 1959, Tung Kin acquired the former Camelpaint factory site on King’s Road in North Point and developed Kut Cheong Mansion (吉祥大廈) in 1960. The nine-story building had two flats per floor, each flat had one living room and three bedrooms and selling for $12000 per flat. Ten-year installment plan was available as an option. (KSDN, 1959-8-30; WKYP, 1960-7-20)

Ad for Chung Yuen Construction’s North Point Building (WKYP, 1958-7-18)

In 1961, Tung Kin acquired a 40,000 sq ft plot of the former Metropole Theatre site in North Point and developed the 16-story Tung Fat Building (東發大廈) through Tung Fat Land Investment (東發置業) with flats selling for $10,000 per flat. The firm also developed Tung Lee Building (東利大樓) through Tung Lee Land Investment (東利置業) at 1-15 On Ning Lane in Sai Ying Pun the same year. Both Tung Fat Land and Tung Lee Land were incorporated in 1961 and dissolved in 1983.

Left: Ad for Kut Cheong Mansion in North Point in 1960 (WKYP, 1960-8-21); Right: ad for Tung Cheung Factory Building in North Point and Kai Fat Building in the Western district in 1963 (KSDN, 1963-9-19)

In 1962, Tung Kin began developing Tung Cheung Factory Building (東祥工廠大廈) at 653-659 King’s Road. (WKYP, 1962-9-13) As shown in the 1963 ad below, Tung Kin was also involved with Kai Fat Land Investment (啓發置業, incorporated in 1961, dissolved in 1977) in the development of the building in addition to its namesake Kai Fat Building (啓發大廈) at 45-47 Connaught Road West and 204 Wing Lok Street, which it billed as an office building in the heart of the Chinese business district.

Tung Kin Factory Building (東建工廠大廈) at 196-202 Tsat Tsz Mui Road which was built in 1962 was also likely developed by Tung Kin Land based on its name, vintage and location. The firm also have an affiliate by the name of Hop Shi Investment (合時置業) incorporated in 1962 and was involved in the development of Hop Shi Factory Building (合時工廠大廈) at Lee Chung Street in Chai Wan which was built in 1966 (KSDN, 1966-3-5)

Ad for Tung Kin Land’s Summit Court on Tin Hau Temple Road in 1962 (WKYP, 1962-5-23)

Another major development by Tung Kin in 1962 was the higher end residential building Summit Court (雲峯大廈) at 144-158 Tin Hau Temple Road. Built on a 50000 sq ft plot, the building has over 200 units with parking spaces and in the press interview given by Chan Him, he reiterated that the firm had no interest in raising the prices of the flats despite the soaring property prices at the time. (KSDN, 1962-6-7) Based on the advertisement at the beginning of the article, On Wah Investment (安華置業, incorporated in 1961, was dissolved in 1987) was also attached to the project. The building for whatever reason was not completed until 1966 and based on the committee list of the owners association when it was formed in 1971, some of its residents included Kwan To-ngai (關道毅), the general manager of United Chinese Bank (a friend of Chan Him as shown in the 1979 picture above), the prominent educator Sun Fong-chung (孫方中) and Alfred S.U. Ho (何少庵), the English secretary of Wah Kiu Yat Po and father of politician and architect Edward Ho Sing-tin (WKYP, 1971-4-22)

As a firm, Tung Kin Land was dissolved in 1983.

This article was first posted on 6th April 2020.

Tung Kin Land Investment (東建置業)

Leave a Reply Cancel reply