Mei Foo Sun Chuen 5.03

Mei Foo Sun Chuen or simply Mei Foo is a large private housing estate in Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Mei Foo Sun Chuen was the first private housing estate in Hong Kong and at the time of completion, the 99 tower complex was considered the largest private housing development in the world, accommodating some 70,000 – 80,000 people in 13,500 apartments. It is considered to be one of the world's largest privately financed residential condominium project.HistoryThe 40-acre Mei Foo Sun Chuen, with a total of ninety-nine blocks, was completed from 1968 to 1978 in eight separate but interconnected stages on the reclamation that had been a large petroleum-storage facility of Mobil (now part of ExxonMobil) in Hong Kong from the 1920s. The redevelopment was carried out by Mei Foo Investments Limited, a subsidiary company of Mobil Oil (Hong Kong) Limited.Mei Foo Sun Chuen was conceived to meet the housing needs of Hong Kong's middle-income families, an emerging and growing group at the time. At the time, a flat in Mei Foo cost around HK$40,000.BuildingsThe residential complexes of Mei Foo were considered "grand" for the standards at the time they were built; every flat offers a balcony, at least two rooms and one bathroom. The apartment sizes vary from 600 to 1,800 square feet (56 to 167 square metres). Every apartment complex has a 24-hour uniformed, unarmed security force. Entry to a residential block requires an entrance code, which changes periodically.