Swire Properties


Swire Properties Limited is a property developer, owner and operator of mixed-use, principally commercial properties in Hong Kong and Mainland China. Founded and headquartered in Hong Kong in 1972, Swire Properties is a major property developer in Hong Kong, and is listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. With its subsidiaries, employs around 4,500 people. The company is in turn a subsidiary of publicly listed Swire Pacific.

Business scope

Swire Properties operates business in three main areas:
  1. property investment – property investment, namely the development, leasing and management of commercial, retail and residential properties as a long term investment
  2. property trading – property trading, that is the development and construction of properties, principally luxury residential apartments, for sale
  3. hotel investment and operations

    History

Laying the foundations

Swire Properties was established in Hong Kong in 1972, with interests held by B&S Industries Limited and The Taikoo Dockyard and Engineering Company of Hong Kong Limited, which was renamed as Swire Pacific Limited in 1974. In 1975, Taikoo Shing, built on the former Taikoo Dockyard, became the first major development by Swire Properties. Tung Ting Mansion, the first block of Taikoo Shing, was offered for sale in January 1976.
In the following year, Taikoo Sugar Refinery Compound was renamed to the Taikoo Trading Estate.
Swire Properties was briefly listed for the first time on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in 1977. Its shares were also traded on the London Stock Exchange.

Expansion into the US

In 1976, Swire Properties decided to invest in US by acquiring interests in Berkeley Hambro Inc, a developer headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Two years later, Swire Properties acquired interests in a joint venture with a Florida Cheezem Development Corporation Limited, to develop a 33.6-acre site on Claughton Island, Miami. Claughton Island was later renamed Brickell Key.

Pacific Place, Festival Walk and Citygate development

In 1985 to 1986, Swire Properties purchased the former Victoria Barracks in Admiralty and land surrounding it. The land was later redeveloped into Pacific Place, which was a hub consisting of a shopping mall, two office towers, serviced apartments and three five-star hotels. Pacific Place was fully completed in 1991. An office tower extension, Pacific Place Three, was completed in 2004. In 1999, StarCrest, a residential project adjacent to the Pacific Place hub, was completed, marking the revitalization of the entire Star Street area in Wan Chai.
In 1998, Festival Walk was completed, which offered retail space spanning seven levels, an office tower and a public transportation terminus. In 2011, Swire Properties sold its 100% interest in Festival Walk to Mapletree, a Singapore-based developer for HK$18.8 billion. The property transaction was the most expensive ever conducted in Hong Kong’s history.
In 1999, Swire Properties completed Citygate in Tung Chung, Lantau, as well as Tung Chung Crescent and Seaview Crescent, two residential projects providing in total almost 3,700 units. In 2006, the retail mall of Citygate was renamed Citygate Outlets, Hong Kong’s first outlet shopping mall.

Expansion into the mainland

In 2007, Swire Properties acquired the Beijing Sanlitun project, which comprises a low-rise mixed commercial scheme comprising retail development and a 99-room hotel. The southern portion of Sanlitun Village was also opened the following year. The northern portion of Sanlitun Village was opened in 2010, marking the official launch of the entire Sanlitun Village development. It was later renamed Taikoo Li Sanlitun.
In 2011, Taikoo Hui Guangzhou was opened in Guangzhou, and INDIGO was opened in Beijing. Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu was officially launched in 2015 and HKRI Taikoo Hui was opened in Shanghai in 2017.

Public listing

In 2010, Swire Properties attempted to split from Swire Pacific and undergo an IPO, but in the end postponed due to adverse economic situation.
In 2012, Swire Properties was successfully listed by way of introduction on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. Its stock code is 1972 and its shares began trading on 18 January.

Hong Kong portfolio

Swire Properties’ investment portfolio comprises office and retail properties, serviced apartments, hotels and luxury residential projects.

Commercial projects

Swire Properties' investment portfolio in Hong Kong totals over 15.9 million sq ft of gross floor area. Taikoo Place, Cityplaza, Pacific Place and Citygate Outlets are the company's key holdings.

Taikoo Place

is a decentralised office area with a hub of 8 interconnected Grade-A office towers with a total gross floor area of over 5 million sq ft. Tong Chong Street, located at Taikoo Place, offers an open-air plaza for hosting cultural and entertainment events, streetside performances and charitable fundraising. The new 7,000-sq ft multi-purpose venue Artistree will allow for an even greater scope of arts programmes, with a particular focus on the performing arts. The ArtisTree has also been designed as a platform for the emergence of innovative art forms and a diverse range of original works presented for the first time in Asia. A co-working space Blueprint was launched in 2014 to foster entrepreneurship in Hong Kong.
List of office buildings in Taikoo Place
features Hong Kong Island’s biggest shopping mall by gross floor area, as well as three Grade-A office towers with a total GFA of 3.27 million sq ft. The lifestyle business hotel run by Swire Hotels, EAST, was opened in 2010 and features 345 guest rooms. Cityplaza sits atop Tai Koo MTR station.

Pacific Place

is a mixed-use development comprising a shopping mall, three office towers, serviced apartments and four hotels in Admiralty. The Mall, Pacific Place offers over 711,000 sq ft GFA of retail space, and houses approximately 140 retail and catering outlets. Pacific Place is directly connected to Admiralty MTR station.

Citygate

is located in Tung Chung near the Hong Kong International Airport on Lantau Island. Citygate Outlets consists of six levels of shops, a majority of which are outlets selling clothing and sportswear. The rest of Citygate complex is made up of a nine-storey office building with a total GFA of approximately 161,000 sq ft, and Novotel Citygate Hong Kong, a 440-room hotel managed by Novotel.

Residential projects

List of residential projects by Swire Properties
Hong Kong IslandKowloonNew TerritoriesOutlying Islands
Westland Gardens Beacon Heights Greenfields Tung Chung Crescent
Rocky Bank Village Gardens Belair Monte Seaview Crescent
Westlands Court Sunningdale Ocean Shores WHITESANDS
Taikoo Shing Dunbar Place --
Harbour Heights ---
The Albany ---
Lei King Wan ---
Parkvale ---
Pacific Place Apartments ---
Robinson Place ---
Island Place ---
The Floridian ---
Fairwinds ---
StarCrest ---
Les Saisons ---
The Orchards ---
3 Coombe Road ---
Island Lodge ---
OPUS HONG KONG ---
AZURA ---
ARGENTA ---
Mount Parker Residences ---
AREZZO ---
Taikoo Place Apartments ---

Mainland China portfolio

The company has an attributable portfolio amounting to over 9.4 million sq ft, including five mixed-use developments in Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Shanghai.

Taikoo Li Sanlitun, Beijing

was Swire properties' first retail development in Mainland China and is situated in the Chaoyang District of Beijing,. Featuring an open-plan lane-driven design, the development comprises two neighbouring retail sites and a hotel, The Opposite House. In total, the project has a GFA of approximately 1.47 million sq ft and is home to over 220 retail outlets.

INDIGO, Beijing

is a retail-led mixed-use project with a total GFA of over 1.89 million sq ft situated in Chaoyang District of Beijing,. It consists of a shopping mall, a Grade-A office tower, as well as a 369-room business hotel, EAST, Beijing. The development officially opened in 2012 and is linked to the Beijing Subway Line 14.

Taikoo Hui Guangzhou

is Swire Properties' largest investment property in Mainland China with a total GFA of approximately 3.84 million sq ft. Situated in Tianhe Central Business District of Guangzhou, TaiKoo Hui is located at a transportation hub with direct access to Line 1 and Line 3 of the Guangzhou metro. TaiKoo Hui comprises a shopping mall, two Grade-A office towers, the Mandarin Oriental Guangzhou with serviced apartments and a cultural centre.

Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu

, formerly The Daci Temple project, is a retail-led mixed-use development located in the Jinjiang District of Chengdu near the Chunxi Road shopping district. It is a large-scale development of over 2.86 million sq ft and consists of an open-plan, lane-driven mall, a boutique hotel The Temple House with 100 guest rooms and 42 serviced apartments, and a Grade-A office tower Pinnacle One. The complex is accessible from the Chunxi Road interchange station of Metro Lines 2 and 3 and is located next to the 1,600-year-old Daci Temple.

HKRI Taikoo Hui, Shanghai

is a large-scale retail-led mixed-use development. It is located on Nanjing West Road in Jing'an District, Shanghai. The development comprises a retail mall, two offices towers and three hotels/serviced apartments of approximately 3.46 million sq ft. HKRI Taikoo Hui was officially opened in 2017.

Taikoo Li Qiantan, Shanghai

In February 2018, Swire Properties entered into a 50:50 joint venture with Shanghai Newbund Company to develop a retail project with an expected total gross floor area of approximately 1.33 million sq ft in Qiantan, Pudong New District in Shanghai. The project will feature an open-plan, lane-driven concept and has been designed to blend elements found in nature with contemporary architecture. In January 2019 it was revealed that the project would be called Taikoo Li Qiantan and is expected to open in phases from the end of 2020.

United States portfolio

Swire Properties Inc., established in Miami since 1979, is one of South Florida’s international developers of urban office, hotel and condo real estate.

Brickell Key Development

Swire Properties has invested US$1 billion in a master‐planned development of Brickell Key in Miami, Florida. This island mixed-use community includes two office buildings, commercial retail, eight condominium towers and the Mandarin Oriental, Miami.

Brickell City Centre

is an urban mixed-use development in the Brickell financial district in Miami, Florida. Phase I of the development consists of a shopping centre, EAST Miami hotel and serviced apartments, two office buildings and two residential towers. Phase II of the development is planned to consist of an 80-storey mixed-use tower comprising retail, office, hotel and residential space. The GFA of both phases totals 6.352 million sq ft.
As the largest private-sector project currently under construction in Miami, Brickell City Centre has commenced construction work on Phase I in 2012 with completion scheduled by the end of 2015. A second phase of construction will begin in the first quarter of 2016.
List of projects in Brickell Key by Swire Properties
In December 2012, Swire Properties agreed to acquire eight residential units at Hampton Court, 2 Draycott Park in Singapore as investment properties.

Swire Hotels

see Swire Hotels
Swire Properties formed Swire Hotels in 2008 to create and manage urban hotels in Hong Kong, Mainland China and the United States.
List of hotel portfolio by Swire Properties
Hong KongMainland ChinaUS
The Upper HouseThe Opposite House EAST, Miami
EAST, Hong KongEast, Beijing-
The Headland HotelThe Temple House -
Island Shangri La, Hong KongThe Middle House -
JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong--
Conrad Hong Kong--
Novotel Citygate Hong Kong--

Swire Restaurants

Swire Restaurants owns and manages restaurants in Hong Kong. Plat du Jour is a French bistro in Quarry Bay. Ground PUBLIC is a café at One Island East and 625 King's Road, and PUBLIC is a restaurant at One Island East. The Continental is an all-day Grand Café at Pacific Place.