据分析人士称，香港城市规划委员会已驳回了一个开发商财团提出的申请，该申请旨在将九龙的一个商业项目重新规划为住宅公寓，这使得卖方在面对高空置率时处境艰难。
Hong Kong’s Town Planning Board has rejected an application from a consortium of developers to rezone a commercial project in Kowloon for development as residential flats, leaving sellers struggling with high vacancy rates, according to analysts.
由资本策略地产、泛海国际以及重庆籍地产大亨张松桥组成的财团曾向城市规划委员会提出申请，计划将其共同拥有的位于九龙湾临泽街8号的甲级写字楼“海滨汇”重新开发为两栋住宅楼，提供1140套公寓。
A consortium formed by CSI Properties, Asia Standard International, and Chongqing-born property tycoon Cheung Chung-kiu applied to the Town Planning Board to redevelop “Harbourside HQ” – a grade A office building at 8 Lam Chak Street, Kowloon Bay, which they jointly own – into two residential towers providing 1,140 flats.
拟议重建项目的总楼面面积约为45787平方米（492800平方英尺），与现有商业建筑71664平方米的总面积相比，大幅减少了36%。
The gross floor area of the proposed redevelopment project would have been about 45,787 square metres (492,800 square feet), representing a significant 36 per cent reduction compared with the existing commercial building’s total area of 71,664 square metres.
规划署此前表示对该申请不持反对意见。然而，城市规划委员会在上周五审议后，否决了该开发提案。
The Planning Department previously indicated no objection to the application. However, the Town Planning Board rejected the development proposal after deliberating on it last Friday.
拒绝置评该决定的开发商可以在收到拒绝通知后申请复核，或者根据城市规划委员会给出的拒绝理由，对提案进行大幅修改并重新提交一份全新的申请。
The developers, who refused to comment on the decision, may apply for a review after receiving the refusal notice or can substantially revise the proposal and resubmit a completely new application based on the Town Planning Board’s reasons for refusal.
市场观察人士此前普遍预期该申请会获得批准，因此最终结果令许多人感到十分意外。
Market observers had widely expected the application to be approved, so the eventual outcome was a complete surprise to many.
泓亮咨询及评估董事总经理梁振宇预计，即使开发商寻求复核或重新提交修改后的提案，获得批准也将十分困难。
Alex Leung, senior director at CHFT Advisory and Appraisal, anticipated that securing approval would be difficult even if the developers sought a review or resubmitted a modified proposal.
他解释称，由于“海滨汇”于2010年才落成，拆除一栋仅有16年楼龄的甲级写字楼可能会被视为浪费资源，这与可持续发展背道而驰，并可能为未来的城市规划树立一个不良先例。
Since Harbourside HQ was only completed in 2010, some might view demolishing a 16-year-old grade A office building as a waste of resources that runs counter to sustainable development, potentially setting an undesirable precedent for future urban planning, he explained.
此外，今年市场人士普遍认为，镇规划委员会在处理开发商将商业用地重新规划为住宅用地的提案时采取了更为严格的立场。过去，那些没有受到规划部门反对的提案几乎都不会被委员会拒绝。
Moreover, this year, market insiders felt the Town Planning Board had adopted an increasingly tough stance regarding developers’ proposals to rezone commercial land for residential use. In the past, applications that faced no objection from the Planning Department were rarely rejected by the Board.
根据镇规划委员会的数据，今年该委员会已经审查了三份将商业用地转为住宅用地的提案。其中只有由土木工程及发展部门提交的、涉及沙田两个地块的提案在上周五获得了批准。
The Town Planning Board has reviewed three applications to convert commercial land to residential use so far this year. Only one of these – submitted by the Civil Engineering and Development Department and covering two sites in Sha Tin – was approved last Friday, according to the Board’s data.
去年10月，新世界发展集团曾向镇规划委员会提出申请，希望将其位于尖沙咀的K11 Artus酒店改造成服务式公寓，但该提案在3月份被委员会驳回。此后，该开发商已提交了复审请求，目前该申请仍在进一步审议中。
Another application was made by New World Development last October to the Town Planning Board to convert its K11 Artus hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui into serviced flats, but the application was rejected by the Board in March. The developer has since submitted a request for a review, which is pending further deliberation.
梁先生指出，尽管规划部门没有提出任何反对意见，但“Harbourside HQ”项目仍是今年第二个被镇规划委员会拒绝的将商业用地重新规划为住宅用地的提案。
Leung pointed out that Harbourside HQ was the second application this year to rezone a commercial site for residential use that the Town Planning Board rejected, despite the Planning Department raising no objections.
“这种情况非常罕见，可能会促使开发商在重新开发项目中更加谨慎地评估相关风险，”他说。
“Such a scenario is rare and may prompt developers to factor in additional risk regarding redevelopment projects,” he said.
梁先生还认为，该开发商很难将“Harbourside HQ”项目改造成其他用途的住宅设施。
Leung also believes it would be difficult for the developer to convert Harbourside HQ for other uses.
他指出，虽然当前的市场趋势是将商业建筑改造成学生宿舍，但现有的建筑法规要求这类设施中的每个居住房间都必须配备可正常使用的窗户。此外，关于窗户面积、自然采光、视野以及房间深度的严格规定也使得建造“没有窗户的闷室”成为不可能的事。
He pointed out that while the current market trend involved converting commercial buildings into student accommodation, existing buildings ordinance mandates that every habitable room in such facilities must feature operable windows. Furthermore, strict requirements regarding window area, natural lighting, views and room depth prohibit the creation of “windowless dark rooms”.
“然而，Harbourside HQ的楼层面积大且深，并采用了玻璃幕墙设计，”梁先生表示。“我认为将其改建为学生宿舍相当困难。改造成本会非常高，而且可能需要牺牲大量的楼面面积。”因此，梁先生预计Harbourside HQ在短期内将维持现状继续出租，开发商别无选择，只能等待办公楼市场复苏。
“However, Harbourside HQ has large, deep floors and features a glass curtain wall,” Leung said. “I believe it would be quite difficult to convert it into student accommodation. The costs would be very high, and it might require sacrificing a significant amount of floor area.”Therefore, Leung predicts Harbourside HQ will simply remain on the rental market as is for the short term, leaving the developer with no choice but to wait for a recovery in the office market.
然而，根据申请文件，Harbourside HQ目前的空置率为25%。该财团还表示，观塘地区的商业空间已经供过于求，并对该地块是否有必要保留商业用途表示怀疑。
However, according to the application documents, Harbourside HQ’s current vacancy rate is 25 per cent. The consortium also said there was already an oversupply of commercial area in Kwun Tong and doubted the need to retain commercial use at the site.
中原（工商铺）上周发布的一份市场报告显示，8月份九龙区甲级写字楼的整体空置率为15.7%。
A market report released by Centaline Commercial last week indicated that the overall vacancy rate for grade A office buildings in Kowloon stood at 15.7 per cent in August.
观塘区和九龙湾区的空置率分别达到17.13%和25.42%，同比分别上升了2.36和2.43个百分点。
Vacancy rates in the Kwun Tong and Kowloon Bay districts reached 17.13 per cent and 25.42 per cent respectively, representing year-on-year increases of 2.36 and 2.43 percentage points.
随着商业地产需求萎缩，今年香港已提交了六宗将商业用地改划为住宅用途的申请，目前正在等待审批。
As demand for commercial properties dwindles, six applications to rezone commercial land for residential use in Hong Kong have been lodged this year and are currently awaiting approval.
其中包括百利保控股和富豪酒店提出的一项建议，计划重建位于马鞍山、仅运营了八年的五层高购物中心We Go Mall。
These include a proposal by Paliburg Holdings and Regal Hotels to redevelop a five-storey shopping centre called We Go Mall in Ma On Shan that has been in operation for only eight years. By Chris Tsang