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Ocean Park’s redevelopment plan fails to attract external investors

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Ocean Park‘s plan to create a retail, dining and entertainment hub had no bids.

Ocean Park‘s plan to redevelop part of the park into a retail, dining and entertainment hub failed to attract any external investors before an invitation to tender closed earlier this year.

As part of the attraction’s HK$6.8 billion ($876 million) transformation plan, an area near the main entrance will become a retail, dining and entertainment zone with free entry.

Ocean Park is currently repositioning itself as a holiday resort and educational attraction. An invitation to tender was launched in February, and a number of potential investors were shortlisted, South China Morning Post reports.

The original deadline of 31 May was later extended to 29 July. However, Paulo Pong, the new chairman of Ocean Park Corporation, said there was no interest from the shortlisted investors when the tender closed.

Invitation to tender closed earlier this year

“We will consider any possible plans and see how the future developments can help the park to be self-financing,” he said in an interview published in Hang Seng University’s newsletter.

“In order to chart its way forward, the park is now examining the situation, which includes analysis of the rationales behind the invited tenderers’ decisions not to submit a bid,” a spokesperson said.

As part of the plans, Ocean Park is also developing a 125,000-square-metre adventure zone with outdoor attractions and activities. In addition, a 162,000-square-metre wellness area will be home to immersive experiences that promote wellness.

Ocean Park recently teamed up with The Sandbox, an Ethereum-based decentralised NFT gaming metaverse, to create new digital entertainment experiences as part its makeover project.

The HK$4bn ($513m) Water World expansion launched at Ocean Park in September 2021.

Images: Ocean Park Corporation

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Bea Mitchell

Bea is a journalist specialising in entertainment, attractions and tech with 10 years' experience. She has written and edited for publications including CNET, BuzzFeed, Digital Spy, Evening Standard and BBC. Bea graduated from King's College London and has an MA in journalism.

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