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FORBES ASIA FEBRUARY 20 20THEPROFILEThere, from a balcony atop the new luxury apartment building of
his Victoria Dockside development, he can view the Hong Kong Con-
vention and Exhibition Centre on the opposite side of the harbor.
With its curved glass and massive sloping roof, the convention cen-
ter is said to resemble a bird taking flight. His grandfather Cheng Yu-
tung, founder of the family’s flagship property firm New World Devel-
opment, came up with the ambitious plan for the building, which in-
cluded a manmade island, back in the early 1980s when the market
was in a slump and other developers had no interest. Undeterred, Yu-
tung turned the convention center into a Hong Kong icon, showcasing
New World’s capabilities. Yu-tung reportedly once said the convention
center was one of the two projects of which he was most proud.
And the other project? It was the New World Centre, a mixed-use
complex that was demolished about a decade ago to allow the devel-
opment of Victoria Dockside. Cheng has overseen this project from
the start, building on the site of his grandfather’s former landmark, as
part of a wider strategy to develop his K11 brand.
“I’m not inheriting a 50-year-old family business and trying to pre-
serve it and hold it tight. That’s not me,” Cheng says. “I’m disrupting
it and rejuvenating it to create a new business model.” While Cheng’s
father, Henry Cheng Kar-shun, continues to serve as New World’s
chairman, his eldest son is executive vice-chairman and general man-
ager, a position he has held since 2017.
As with the convention center, the $2.6 billion project was risky.
The launching of Victoria Dockside, which has opened in stages from
2018, comes as Hong Kong suffers its worst downturn in a decade.
Hit by months of protests and the U.S.-China trade war, Hong Kong’s
third quarter GDP contracted 3.2% from the previous quarter, after
retreating 0.4% in the second quarter—its first recession since the
global financial crisis in 2009.
Victoria Dockside was a gamble in another way. Cheng could have
taken the safe route, choosing a conservative design. Instead, Cheng
endorsed an innovative design expressing the ideals of his K11 brand,
which he created and has refined since 2009. This complex is the big-
gest and most elaborate expression of the brand. The 65-story office
tower is called K11 Atelier, the luxury apartments K11 Artus and the
shopping mall with art galleries K11 Musea. The only major non-K11
brand in the complex is Rosewood Hong Kong, part of a luxury hotel
chain that the family also owns.When Adrian Cheng
looks across Hong Kong’s
harbor from Tsim Sha Tsui,
he sees his family’s legacy writ
large across the city’s skyline.
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