The World Trade Centre is a shopping centre and office tower complex in

Causeway Bay Causeway Bay is an area and a bay on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, straddling the border of the Eastern and the Wan Chai districts. It is a major shopping, leisure and cultural centre in Hong Kong, with a number of major shopping centres. Th ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

. It is connected via passageway to its neighbour,

The Excelsior The Excelsior () was a four-star hotel located at 281 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. It was owned and operated by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, a member of the Jardine Matheson Group, and served as the Mandari ...

. The complex was developed by Jardines through its property development arm,

Hongkong Land Hongkong Land (HKL) is a property investment, management and development group with commercial and residential property interests across Asia. It owns and manages some 850,000 sq. m. of office and retail property in Asia, principally in Hong K ...

. It was later sold to

Sun Hung Kai Properties Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited (SHKP; ) is a listed corporation and the largest property developer in Hong Kong as of 2019. The company is controlled by the Kwok family trust, largely the Kwok brothers. The Kwok family trust was set up by Kw ...

. It is situated on land owned by Jardine since the early days of Hong Kong as a

British Crown Colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Council ...

at East Point, where Jardine had their original

godown A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities, tow ...

s and offices.

History

Located at No. 280 Gloucester Road, World Trade Centre was built in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

. Although it originally housed the nightclub ''Palace Theatre'' (), it was later remodeled to be Hong Kong's most luxurious cinema of the same name. The food and beverage corporation

Maxim's Maxim's is a restaurant in Paris, France, located at No. 3 rue Royale in the 8th . It is known for its Art Nouveau interior decor. In the mid 20th century Maxim's was regarded as the most famous restaurant in the world. History Early history ...

also established a restaurant branch in the building, and garnered relative fame at the time. In 1990, World Trade Centre Group Ltd (formerly Bond Corporation International Ltd) purchased the building from

for HK$1.72 billion. The World Trade Centre was later sold to Sun Hung Kai Properties and was remodelled again to its present form, with the lower floors as a mall and the upper floors remaining as office space. On 15 December 2021, a fire broke out in the World Trade Centre causing more than 300 people to be trapped on the building's roof. File:Hong Kong World Trade Centre Enterance 2006.jpg, World Trade Centre before renovation in August 2006, viewed from Jaffe Road. File:HK World Trade Centre Interior Void.jpg, World Trade Centre shopping arcade before renovation in August 2006. File:HK World Trade Centre Interior 2.jpg, World Trade Centre before renovation in August 2006. File:HK WTCOfficelobby 20060831.jpg, World Trade Centre office lobby before renovation in August 2006. World Trade Centre wtc hk fire view1 20211215.png, On 15 December 2021, a fire broke out in the World Trade Centre

Shopping arcade renovation

In August 2006,

announced that the centre will be expanded for HK$200 million, which included: expansion of number of floors from 6 to 15, additional glass on the floors, walls between shops made of glass, giant LED screen in the entrance, new design of whole centre and other small changes. Also, the working hours were extended, and World Trade Centre renamed as WTC. The first phase of shopping arcade renovation started in October 2006. The floors built on this phase were shops and also office areas and a big exhibition hall on 13th floor. Food & Beverage outlets opened in January 2008 include Hea Place (9/F), Ruby Tuesday, Kung Tak Lam Shanghai Vegetarian Cuisine(10/F), Shanghai Lu Yang Cun Restaurant (11/F), Dragon King Restaurant (12/F), Myung Ga Korean Restaurant and Kiriyaki (13/F). In February 2009, another renovation phase was held, which made multi-floor shops possible, thereafter the

agnès b. agnès b. (born Agnès Andrée Marguerite Troublé, 1941) is a French fashion designer known for her self-named brand, which includes fashion and film interests. Life and early career Agnès had mixed twins at 19 and she separated from their ...

store is located on 1st and 2nd floor,

Muji (), or is a Japanese retail company which sells a wide variety of household and consumer goods. Muji's design philosophy is minimalist, and it places an emphasis on recycling, reducing production and packaging waste, and a no-logo or "no-bran ...

and Uniqlo on 4th and 5th floor and Seaview Restaurant and mYoga yoga center on other floors. Most of the shops become vacant on 2019 and P1-5 level closed in December 2020 for the large scale renovation again. File:Wtc more Ground Floor Access 2009.jpg, Ground floor access in February 2009 File:Wtc more GF Liftlobby.jpg, Ground floor lift lobby in February 2009 Wtc more Beauty wtc 201903.jpg, Beauty wtc File:Wtc more 1F Liftlobby.jpg, Level 1 lift lobby in February 2009

Palace Theatre Cinema

After being converted from a nightclub, Palace Theatre Cinema was opened on 14 November 1979 by

Shaw Brothers Studio Shaw Brothers (HK) Ltd. () was the largest film production company in Hong Kong, and operated from 1925 to 2011. In 1925, three Shaw brothers— Runje, Runme, and Runde—founded Tianyi Film Company (also called "Unique") in Shangh ...

. The cinema was regarded as one of the most extravagant in Hong Kong; whereas normal prime seats would cost 10

Hong Kong dollar The Hong Kong dollar (, sign: HK$; code: HKD) is the official currency of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It is subdivided into 100 cents or 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong ...

s (HKD), the cheapest seat in Palace Theatre costs 12 HKD. The 1060 larger and wider seats, the luxurious lobby, and the middle to upper class clientele signaled the birth of high-end cinemas for Hong Kong movie-goers. The films shown were primarily from the West; the first film was ''

Aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

''. In 1981, Palace Theatre showed '' Somewhere in Time'' starring

Christopher Reeve Christopher D'Olier Reeve (September 25, 1952 – October 10, 2004) was an American actor, best known for playing the title character in the film '' Superman'' (1978) and three sequels. Born in New York City and raised in Princeton, New Jersey ...

, which remained in cinemas for 223 days, a record length for Hong Kong at the time. Between the period of 12 September 1981 and 22 April 1982, the box office at Palace Jade made 9.38 million HKD, also establishing a new record for foreign movies.Apple Daily, 12 October 2004 Among other films, Palace Jade showed ''

American Gigolo ''American Gigolo'' is a 1980 American neo-noir crime drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader, and starring Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton. It tells the story about a high-priced escort in Los Angeles (Gere) who becomes romantically ...

'' and ''

A Clockwork Orange ''A Clockwork Orange'' may refer to: * ''A Clockwork Orange'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess ** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (film), a 1971 film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel *** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (soundtrack), the film ...

'' exclusively.

Transportation

The World Trade Centre can be reached through exit D1 in

MTR The Mass Transit Railway (MTR) is a major public transport network serving :Hong Kong. Operated by the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL), it consists of heavy rail, light rail, and feeder bus service centred on a 10-line rapid transit network ...

Causeway Bay station Causeway Bay () is a station on the MTR network on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. The station is between and stations on the . It serves the locality of East Point within Wan Chai District. The station is at the core of the historical East Po ...

References

External links

WTC
{{Coord, 22, 16, 54, N, 114, 11, 03, E, display=t Skyscraper office buildings in Hong Kong Shopping centres in Hong Kong Shopping malls established in 1995

East Point, Hong Kong Hongkong Land Causeway Bay Sun Hung Kai Properties