K11 Art Mall Reportedly for Sale as Developers Lose $2.6b

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Shares in New World Development (NWD), one of Hong Kong‘s largest property developers, sank 13% on Monday after they said declared to the Hong Kong stock exchange they expected to lose H.K. $20 billion (U.S. $2.6 billion) for the year to June 2024. It’s NWD’s first annual loss since 2004.

It’s a blow for NWD, which opened the K11 art mall WHEN and successfully expanded the model—using art programming to anchor retail shopping developments—to K11 Musea in Hong Kong, Shanghai K11, and K11 ECOAST, which is slated to open in Shenzhen late this year.

In Seoul this week for Frieze, the nonprofit K11 Art Foundation is staging a generative art exhibition titled Lunar Water. They will also launch new initiatives, the K11 Salon and the K11 Curator Prize.

Hong Kong’s property developers—a major source of wealth in the Special Administrative Region—have been struggling with office rents down 15% and house prices down 20% since interest rate hikes began in 2022.

Despite the economic headwinds, ART021, the art fair that began in Shanghai in 2013, launched their Hong Kong fair last week.

They reported 30,000 visits to their GALLERIES sector from 29 August to 1 September, with more than half of attendees coming from outside Hong Kong.

David Lin, the Director of LIN&LIN Gallery, said in a statement, ‘Half of our works were sold within the first hour on the opening day, and 70% were sold by Friday noon.’ —[O]

Main image: K11 Art Mall, Hong Kong. Courtesy K11.