The sale of a plot on the Peak that formerly housed civil servant was triggered successfully by garment-cum-property conglomerate Manhattan Garment (International) for a record-breaking price of HK$18,000 per square feet.

The 7,353-square-metre residential plot on 12 Mt Kellett Road at Peak Pavilions has a minimum gross floor area (GFA) of 2,378 square metres.

It will be auctioned on December 19 the first public auction of a Peak property in seven years. Two residential plots in Broadcast Road and Ma On Shan will be auctioned on November 28, making the Peak land the third to go under the hammer this fiscal year.

The land has been part of the government land bank for two financial years. Two earlier attempts, including one by development giants Wheelock, failed to trigger its sale, with market watchers saying the high premium set by the government was to blame for that.

The Lands Department said yesterday that Manhattan Garment (International) initiated the sale with a minimum guaranteed bid of HK$768 million, or about HK$18,000 per square feet, a record since the land trigger system was adopted.

Manhattan Garment general manager Patrick Chow explained his company's plans thus: "We are interested in prestigious property projects... we are confident because the company has the experience of developing similar kind of projects on the Peak and in the Southern District... which have evoked a pretty good response."

SK Pang Surveyor managing director Pang Shiu-kee said the plot's price could shoot up to HK$1.07 billion, or about HK$25,000 per square feet.

"The land is exotic and valuable because it is in a conventionally luxury district with no buildings nearby to block the grand view (from the Peak). Also, there has been a shortage of luxury properties in the market for quite a while," and that's what makes the plot so special, Pang said.

"Assuming that the size of a flat averages about 3,000 square feet, the project could offer 10 to 12 units," he said.