Festival Walk 5.15

Festival Walk is a shopping centre in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong developed jointly by Swire Properties and CITIC Pacific between 1993 and 1998. At the time of its opening in November 1998, it was the biggest shopping mall in Hong Kong. There are also four floors of offices on top of the mall.LocationFestival Walk is located in Yau Yat Chuen, and is directly linked to Kowloon Tong Station, which is an interchange station of the East Rail Line and the Kwun Tong Line of Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway. Festival Walk has a direct rail connection to Mainland China. It also has a pedestrian link to the City University of Hong Kong.HistoryConstruction of the mall commenced in 1994 and was completed in 1998. Significant challenges were faced in the creation of the 21,000 m² site due to its terraced land form as well as its narrow land shape. The tunnels for the Kwun Tong Line of the MTR run through the full length of the site. During the construction of the building's four basement levels, 460,000 m³ of earth had to be removed.Festival Walk was jointly owned by Swire Properties and CITIC Pacific until 2006, when Swire Properties bought out the 50% stake held by its partner. In July 2011, Mapletree Investments acquired the property for HK$18.8 billion (approximately US$2.4 billion), making it the world’s largest retail real estate deal in 2011.