Central Market Reopening After HK$500m Makeover

Hong Kong's Central Market will reopen to the public on Monday, almost two decades after it was closed down.

Following a HK$500 million makeover, the Grade III historic building boasts dozens of retail and food outlets, with seats for visitors to rest in the famous atrium, and snack stalls along the 24-hour pedestrian walkway on the second floor.

The Urban Renewal Authority (URA), which carried out the revitalisation project, says the 82-year-old market has been repurposed as a space not just for retail, but also leisure and social events.

"There are diversified events, diversified uses – from culture, arts, education to leisure. I don't think this is an over-commercialised or gentrifying element in Central," said Wilfred Au, the URA's director for planning and design.

Au also dismissed concerns over new steel handrails fitted on the iconic grand staircase, saying they were needed for safety reasons.

He said the building had been in a poor state before the revamp and steel and concrete across more than half the site was eroded and had to be replaced.

The fourth incarnation of Central Market opened to the public in 1939.

The four-storey building located between Queen's Road Central, Jubilee Street, Queen Victoria Street and Des Voeux Road Central was closed down in 2003.

The plan to revitalise the site was proposed in 2009 by then-Chief Executive Donald Tsang.