City One

Coordinates: 22°23′11″N 114°12′14″E / 22.38639°N 114.20389°E / 22.38639; 114.20389

City One and the Banyan Bridge over the Shing Mun River.

Overview of City One.

City One Shatin (Chinese: 沙田第一城) is a residential area in the District of Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong. City One is located 12.5 kilometres (8 mi) north of Central. City One is the largest private residential estate in Sha Tin District. There are a total of 52 blocks of residential buildings. Each tower is about 30 storeys with units ranging from 389 square feet (36.7 square metres) to an area of 1018 square feet (94.6 square metres) with different floor plans.

History

City One is an important project of the Government's plan on developing the Sha Tin New Town in 1979. 6,000,000 square feet (560,000 m²) of land was reclaimed for the construction of the estate. City One was a joint venture between New World Development, Henderson Land Development, Sun Hung Kai Properties and Cheung Kong Holdings in the 1980s. The area now occupied by City One was formerly Yuen Chau Kok and the Tide Cove.

Construction

The construction of the City One Residential Apartments was completed in seven stages (completion date):

• Stage One - Blocks 1 to 14 (August 1981)
• Stage Two - Blocks 15 to 23 (June 1982)
• Stage Three - Blocks 29 to 33 (September 1983)
• Stage Four - Blocks 37 to 45 (June 1985)
• Stage Five - Blocks 27 to 28 & 46 to 52 (November 1985)
• Stage Six - Blocks 24 to 26 (September 1986)
• Stage Seven - Blocks 34 to 36 (January 1988)

The property was developed by four major developers led by Henderson Land Development Company Limited.

Recreation, dining and shopping

City One Plaza.

City One encapsulates two shopping centres (City One Plaza and Ngan Shing Commercial Centre), a wet market, a standard swimming pool, three basketball courts, six tennis courts and numerous playgrounds on the podium of the newer phases. Jogging trail is available alongside the nearby Shing Mun River. A roof top park is situated on top level of City One Plaza. The arcade surrounds a public open area where local events are often held. A private library founded by the management committee provides lending service exclusively to residents of the estate.^[1] There is also a community centre administrated by the Hong Kong PHAB Association.^[2]

Local restaurants, including DoReMi and Daniel’s Restaurant (Traditional Chinese: 金裝燉奶佬, Literal meaning: Steamed milk custard dude), offer casual Hong Kong style meal. The famed local chain dessert restaurants Hui Lau Shan (Traditional Chinese: 許留山) have one of their shops in the estate. Major fast food chains: McDonald's, Café de Coral, Fairwood, Yoshinoya and KFC have outlets all around with extended opening hours. Cantonese restaurants, such as Fok Choi Restaurant and Glorious Chinese Restaurant, are favourite venues for Chinese cuisine for weekend family dinners and festal banqueters. Other great eateries are Saigoon Star, a prize-winning restaurant serving great value SE-Asian cuisine, Waitei Japanese Restaurant and Genki Sushi which are ideal ideas for Japanese gourmet. Nevertheless, bakeries like Kee-Hueng, Maxim's, A-1 and Maria's offer residents and commuters with freshly made breakfast every morning.

Wet market in City One.

Despite being a residential suburb, Ciy One is able to satisfy all the needs of residents. ParknShop Superstore offers most of daily grocery and necessities. Pharmacies Mannings and Watson's, provide residents with great choices of healthcare and personal products. Local businesses of home appliance stores, variety shops, comic book stores, jewelers, beauty salons, optical centres, boutiques are all packed in the two arcades. In addition, convenience stores like Circle K and Seven-Eleven support 24/7 services. The City One Shatin Post Office of Hongkong Post furnishes inhabitants postal and bill paying services. Branch of HSBC, Hang Seng Bank, Bank of China and ATMs of other banking institutions are conveniently scattered within the two shopping centres.

The estate was originally planned with three local shopping malls. However, developers had altered the blueprint to a two-shopping centre scheme. Land reserved for the third shopping centre is now built with a wet market and three blocks of residency on above. The wet market has all kinds of Chinese and Asian grocers, butchers, florists, greengrocers and general stores.

Transportation

City One bus terminus.

Buses

The City One bus terminal (Citybus) is the terminus of route 61R, 62R, 88R, 89R and 182 operated by Citybus. Citybus offers several routes from City One to the city centre in Kowloon and on Hong Kong Island.^[3] Many KMB bus routes serve City One as a hub, providing timely and frequent services to Kowloon, Hong Kong Island and other suburbs in north New Territories. Long Win Bus (Air Bus) routes A41 and A41P express service connect City One to the Hong Kong International Airport.^[4] Green Public light buses connects City One to the rest of Shatin with services to Fotan, Ma On Shan and Tai Wai. Red Public light buses operates to/from Mong Kok for night-shifters after hours.

Trains

City One is in proximity of the Ma On Shan Line, which operates to Tai Wai, interchange to the major East Rail Line which runs the heart of Kowloon.^[5] City One Station is located at the southern boundary of the estate. Services are ultimately high frequency, with 5 minute services to Tai Wai and Wu Kai Sha. Services run as frequent as 2 minutes intervals in peak hours.

Taxis

As along with all other areas in Hong Kong, City One is easily accessible by taxis. Red urban taxis are chartered to serve the District of Shatin.

Driving

Driving is equally convenient as taking public transport. The estate is winded with Shatin Road freeway and Tate's Cairn Highway. Urban Kowloon can be reached within 20 minutes^[6] and Central on the Hong Kong Island, in 30 minutes^[7] with normal traffic condition.

Health and education

The Prince of Wales Hospital and Yuen Chau Kok Clinic are adjacent to the estate. A number of private doctor offices and clinics where general practitioners could be found are also available in the two shopping centres for less urgent patients.

There are two pre-schools, two primary schools and three secondary schools nearby:

• Catiline Anglo-chinese Kindergarten
• Jingle Bell Kindergarten
• Baptist Lui Ming Choi Primary School
• Dr. Catherine F. Woo Memorial School
• Pentecostal Lam Hon Kwong School
• Sheng Kung Hui Lam Kau Mow Secondary School
• TWGHs Yow Kam Yuen Secondary School

Politics

City One is divided into 2 Constituency Areas, City One (R04) and Yue Shing (R05) of Sha Tin District in the District Council election. In the election of the Legislative Council, City One lays in the New Territories East.

Also see District Councils of Hong Kong and Legislative Council of Hong Kong

Churches and Worships

City One Baptist Church (COBC) is the largest Christian fellowship in City One. It is a branch church of the Baptist Convention of Hong Kong. COBC was established in 1984, serving people in all age groups. Worships are conducted in both Cantonese and English language. Most of the gatherings take place at Baptist Lui Ming Choi Primary School and Citymark Plaza in Siu Lek Yuen. Other fellowships in City One include a congregation of the Chinese Rhenish Church (Hong Kong Synod) and International Fellowship North, an English speaking church in the Citimark Building. Kowloon Pentecostal Church Shatin Chapel in Pentecostal Lam Hon Kwong School holds Sunday services as well.

See also

• Private housing estates in Sha Tin District

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to City One.

• City One Shatin official website
• S.K. Hui, A. Cheung, J. Pang, "A Hierarchical Bayesian Approach for Residential Property Valuation:Application to Hong Kong Housing Market", International Real Estate Review, 2010 Vol. 13 No.1: pp. 1 – 29