Adrian Cheng’s K11 Malls Goes Further Upscale With ‘Musea’ Opening

HONG KONG — It’s been just about 10 years since New World Development’s Adrian Cheng first rolled out his K11 art mall concept fusing together art and retail spaces with a youth- oriented bent.

Now the Hong Kong business mogul is ready to evolve his brainchild into its next iteration in the form of K11 Musea, a mall integrated into the Victoria Dockside complex. The larger Kowloon waterfront development, which includes an office tower and soon-to-be Rosewood Hotel, had its phase one coming out party in April, but the plans for retail were kept under wraps until now.

According to the company, which made the announcement on Thursday, Musea will still have the signature art aspect of the K11 branding but will be positioned as its most luxurious in the K11 network — making it likely to compete with nearby tourist-favorite Harbour City or 1881 Heritage.

The space is to be unveiled in the third quarter of next year. Comprising 10 floors and designed principally by James Corner of James Corner Field Operations and Forth Bagley of Kohn Pederson Fox, Musea promises “an extensive selection of international brands–many of which will be flagships” and a rotating world-class art collection.

In addition, it will house one of the world’s largest living walls with a total surface area of more than 50,000 square feet of greenery, New World Development said, and an amphitheater space and 25-foot tall LED screen.

The project is expected to inject some much-needed life into the promenade, which despite its enviable location has been left languishing. One of the waterfront’s main landmarks and few hubs of activity, the InterContinental Hotel, is set to close in 2020 to undergo a year-long plus renovation.

“K11 Musea will also bring great cultural content back to Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront, which has lost its legendary charm since the late Nineties,” said Cheng, executive vice chairman and general manager of New World Development. “K11 Musea will be Hong Kong and Asia’s new cultural destination, where global Millennials can come together and discover their muse.”

Currently, five K11 art malls are operating in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenyang and Wuhan. Aside from Musea, four more are planned across the country in Beijing, Ningbo, Shenzhen and Tianjin.

While this is shaping up to be Cheng’s most prominent retail- inclusive project in Hong Kong due its prime placement on the city’s defining harborfront, it is not his largest in his hometown. That distinction belongs to the in-progress airport development SkyCity, a $2.5 billion, 3.77 million square foot complex for retail, dining, and entertainment — the largest of its kind in Hong Kong. In comparison, Victoria Dockside comes in at three million square feet.