(Bloomberg) -- Christie’s opened its new headquarters in Hong Kong, capping off a series of real estate expansions by auction houses in the financial hub.
The company occupies the sixth to ninth floors of The Henderson — a skyscraper in the Central district developed by Henderson Land Development Co. and designed by Zaha Hadid Architects — for a total of 50,000 square feet (4,645 square meters).
“We have always been very ambitious with Hong Kong,” Christie’s Chief Executive Officer Guillaume Cerutti said in an interview. The new space would allow the firm to have control over the timing of its auctions, unlike before when sales were held at the Convention and Exhibition Centre. For instance, its November sales often clashed with the Thanksgiving holiday period, he said.
Hong Kong remains Asia’s art hub, even as a Chinese economic downturn means that collectors have become more selective in their spending. Christie’s global auction sales for the first half of this year declined 22% from 2023.
“Even in this moment where there are some challenges in the macro environments, politically and economically in the world, we’ve seen the Asian market keeping its share of 20, 25 or more percent of our turnover,” said Cerutti. While these collectors previously bought Asian art, they are now “crucial” to sales in other categories such as impressionist works, modern art and watches, he said.
Christie’s expansion comes after Sotheby’s opened a new 24,000-square-foot space located at Central’s Landmark Chater, while Phillips opened an office at West Kowloon Cultural District last year.
The expansion by auction houses brings some relief to Hong Kong’s troubled real estate market. Commercial vacancies are at a record high, and retail and office rents have plunged. Leasing rates at The Henderson, whose other tenants include financial firms Carlyle Group Inc. and Coller Capital Ltd., have been highly watched as a proxy for the property market.
At Christie’s, some of the pieces that will be auctioned at its inaugural sales at the new location have set the art world buzzing. These includes Vincent Van Gogh’s Les canots amarrés, which is expected to sell for between $30 million and $50 million, and Claude Monet’s Nymphéas, estimated at between $25 million and $35 million.
--With assistance from James Tarmy.
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