PROPERTY firm Mapletree Investments has won the right to buy a commercial site in Hong Kong's bustling Kowloon district for HK$3.77 billion (S$619 million).

The 55,000 sq ft plot is the first commercial land the firm has bought in Hong Kong that will be develped from scratch.

It is in a key office cluster in Kowloon East that has been earmarked as the new central business district in Hong Kong, Mapletree announced yesterday.

Mapletree said it will develop a Grade-A office building with a total gross floor area of around 660,000 square feet with completion in 2017.

The total development cost is estimated to be around HK$6 billion.

"Given the demand for good quality office space in Kowloon, we plan to draw on our experience, particularly in Singapore, in delivering outstanding commercial projects in the region," Mapletree group chief executive Hiew Yoon Khong said in a statement yesterday.

This is Mapletree's second land award in Hong Kong in 12 months.

It announced in May last year that was buying a 226,000 square feet plot in the New Territories for HK$1.69 billion to develop a multi-storey ramp-up logistics facility.