New Working Community: Retail

**From industrial building to multi-functional office building** Given the high rents, tight space availability, lack of business diversity and aging building blocks in the traditional CBD, Kowloon east is anticipated to attract many enterprises of various sizes. Business area requires both office towers and a variety of commercial programmes to thrive. These often include hotels, high-end restaurants, retail and banking, all of which create the capacity for commercial enterprise to expand. However all these upscale developments are only targeting a small group of well paid white collars. We suggest a spectrum of supporting retail business which provides affordable choices for the workforce in Kowloon East. Transforming industrial buildings into multi-purposed buildings can be a way to create a vibrant community in the new CBD.