The dream flat in Hong Kong's Repulse Bay that was a fortuitous find
Advertisement
It was December 24, 2020. He'd just missed the bus home to Mid-Levels after a dinner in Stanley and, while waiting for the next one, the bachelor's eyes were drawn to a real estate shopfront. And there it was: a
Repulse Bay beauty with curved windows framing knockout views of the sea in front, and mountains behind.
Dining area. Photo: Eugene Chan
'It looked too good to be true,' says Kirpalani, who jumped in a taxi and asked the driver to take him to that address. From outside, 'it was absolutely stunning'.
After persuading the agent to meet for an inspection the following morning – Christmas Day – the good vibes kept on coming. By the new year, he was the proud new owner of the 848 sq ft flat.
The 30-year-old building had benefited from recent facade, facilities and amenities upgrades, but the apartment's interior looked dated. Together with Vincent Leung Tsz-chun, Win Key Workshop's designer and project manager, Kirpalani was a hands-on renovator.
Dining area detail. Photo: Eugene Chan
'Vincent had ideas for making better use of the space,' he says, 'while I was very particular about the look and feel.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
4 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China Evergrande to delist in Hong Kong, marking a watershed in country's property crisis
China Evergrande Group on Tuesday said that its Hong Kong shares will be removed on August 25 following the stock exchange's delisting decision, which the company does not intend to have reviewed. The world's most indebted property developer was informed by the local bourse on Friday that its listing would be cancelled for failing 'to fulfil any of the requirements' to resume trading, the company said in a filing. Evergrande's shares have been suspended from trading since January 29, 2024 – the same day a Hong Kong court ordered its liquidation after it failed to present a viable restructuring plan. Under the exchange's rules, a company that remains suspended for 18 consecutive months is subject to delisting. This would mark the end of Evergrande's 16-year trading status in Hong Kong, which spanned an era when the company was the poster child of China's property boom. The Guangzhou -based developer fell from its perch in 2021 after Beijing rolled out the so-called three red lines policy, which reined in overleveraged developers to cool down the mainland's housing market. The company, which amassed more than US$300 billion in liabilities at its peak, defaulted on its offshore bonds in late 2021, sparking global concerns about spreading the contagion from China's housing downturn.
South China Morning Post
5 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
90% of Hong Kong HR staff say family-friendly policies lacking, poll finds
About 90 per cent of human resources staff have said their organisations have not formulated policies or guidelines to help employees balance work and household burdens, Hong Kong's equality watchdog has found, as it called for enhanced efforts to create more family-friendly workplaces. The Equal Opportunities Commission on Tuesday urged employers to establish written policies and allow for more flexible arrangements under inclement weather, while also urging the government to introduce more types of family leave. It gave its suggestions as part of a survey of 400 human resources professionals and 1,000 family members of workers conducted between July and October last year. About 90 per cent in the former group said their organisations lacked guidelines or policies on family-friendly employment practices. 'In Hong Kong's current competitive environment, finding or retaining a good employee actually requires a lot of effort,' said Ferrick Chu Chung-man, the commission's executive director of operations. 'We urge employers to take some friendly measures to help them retain good talent.' According to the findings, 24 per cent to 45 per cent of human resources staff said they were unsure whether measures implemented by their employers were effective in supporting workers to look after family members, particularly those with mental health needs and children with special educational requirements, as well as the youngsters of single parents.
South China Morning Post
8 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
You've Got Mail no more – AOL is bidding farewell to dial-up internet
AOL's dial-up internet is finally taking its last bow. Yes, while perhaps a dinosaur by today's digital standards, dial-up is still around. But AOL says it's officially pulling the plug for its service on September 30. 'AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue dial-up internet,' AOL wrote in a brief update on its support site – noting that dial-up and associated software 'optimised for older operating systems' will soon be unavailable on AOL plans. AOL, formerly America Online, introduced many households to the World Wide Web for the first time when its dial-up service launched in 1991, rising to prominence in the 90s and early 2000s. In Hong Kong, AOL briefly offered dial-up access in the late 1990s, arriving in a crowded internet service providers market dominated by Netvigator. South China Morning Post coverage at the time captured both industry unease at its launch and early reviews of its pricing, software and bilingual content. Play The creaky door to the internet was characterised by a once-ubiquitous series of beeps and buzzes heard over the phone used to connect your computer online – along with frustrations of being kicked off the web if anyone else at home needed the landline for another call, and an endless bombardment of CDs mailed out by AOL to advertise free trials. Eventually, broadband and wireless offerings emerged and rose to dominance, doing away with dial-up's quirks for most people accessing the internet today. Still, a handful of consumers have continued to rely on internet services connected over telephone lines. In the United States, according to Census Bureau data, an estimated 163,401 households were using dial-up alone to get online in 2023, representing just over 0.13 per cent of all homes with internet subscriptions nationwide. AOL will pull the plug and end its dial-up internet service after more than 30 years. Photo: TNS AOL was the largest dial-up internet provider for some time, but not the only one to emerge over the years. Some smaller internet providers continue to offer dial-up today. Regardless, the decline of dial-up has been a long time coming. And AOL shutting down its service arrives as other relics of the internet's earlier days continue to disappear.
