AIA Central

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title: "AIA Central" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["skyscraper-office-buildings-in-hong-kong", "central,-hong-kong", "office-buildings-completed-in-2005", "skidmore,-owings-&-merrill-buildings"] description: "Skyscraper in Hong Kong" topic_path: "general/skyscraper-office-buildings-in-hong-kong" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIA_Central" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Skyscraper in Hong Kong ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox building"]

Field	Value
name	AIA Central
native_name	友邦金融中心
image	AIA Tower 2013 (cropped).jpg
image_size	250px
caption	Full view of AIA Central, from Tsim Sha Tsui in May 2013
location	1 Connaught Road Central, Central, Hong Kong
coordinates
status	Complete
start_date
opening
building_type	Office
roof	185 m
floor_count	40
floor_area	450000 sqft
architect	Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
structural_engineer	Leslie E. Robertson Associates
owner	Lai Sun Development, CapitaLand, American International Group
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| name = AIA Central | native_name = 友邦金融中心 | image = AIA Tower 2013 (cropped).jpg | image_size = 250px | caption = Full view of AIA Central, from Tsim Sha Tsui in May 2013 | location = 1 Connaught Road Central, Central, Hong Kong | coordinates = | status = Complete | start_date = | opening = | building_type = Office | roof = 185 m | floor_count = 40 | floor_area = 450000 sqft | architect = Skidmore, Owings & Merrill | structural_engineer = Leslie E. Robertson Associates | owner = Lai Sun Development, CapitaLand, American International Group The AIA Central (), formerly called AIG Tower (), in Hong Kong is a 185-metre (607 ft.), 37-storey skyscraper that was completed in 2005 and serves as the headquarters of AIA Group. It is located in Central, not far from the landmark Bank of China Tower.

The Furama Kempinski Hotel, famous for its revolving restaurant, formerly stood on the same lot that the former AIG Tower rises from, but in December 2001, the 33-storey hotel was demolished to make way for the AIG Tower. The tower was renamed to AIA Central on 9 July 2009.

The building was jointly developed by Lai Sun Development, CapitaLand, and American International Group (AIG). The architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the building to look like the Chinese junk, a Chinese sailboat design dating from ancient times and still in use today. Leslie E. Robertson Associates are the structural engineers for this project. As well they included a pedestrian bridge linking the tower to the Hong Kong elevated walkway network.

The building has approximately 41,777 m² (450,000 ft²) of office accommodation.

Plot history

The 999-year leasehold site has an area of 24427 sqft.

Lai Sun Development ("LSD"), founded by textiles magnate Lim Por-yen, paid HK$7 billion for Furama Hotel Enterprises in June 1997. Lai Sun, which already owned the Ritz-Carlton Hotel next door, acquired a 45.42 per cent stake for $3.13 billion, and made a general offer at $33.50 for each remaining shares at a total cost of $6.893 billion.

LSD intended to combine the two plots into a prime office block. Then the Asian financial crisis struck, plunging the entire group into distress and forced asset sales. In March 2000, LSD announced that a 65% stake in the Furama Hotel would be sold to a 50:50 joint venture between Pidemco and AIG for HK$1.88 billion. Pidemco, the largest owner of commercial properties in Singapore, is part of Singapore Technologies, controlled by Temasek Holdings. As part of the deal, Lai Sun would continue to operate the hotel until its redevelopment. The Furama Hotel closed in November, and was demolished in December 2001. Following the demolition of the Furama Hotel, the construction of the new tower AIA Central commenced in November 2002. AIA Central is a 37-storey grade A office building with a gross floor area of approximately 41,777 square metres. It provides 26 floors of prime office space, each of some 13,000 – 15,000 square foot lettable area with a total gross area of 450,000 square foot. The building was developed by Bayshore Development Group Limited, a joint venture of AIA and Lai Sun Development Company Limited.

Gallery

Image:aigtower.jpg|Westerly view of AIA Central in August 2006, Ritz Carlton on the left Image:aigtower2.jpg|AIA Central amongst the Hong Kong skyline in February 2006 Image:AIA Central Lobby 2024.JPG|Lobby of AIA Central Lobby in AIA Central 2024.JPG|Transfer level Lobby of AIA Central Bridge in AIA Central 2024.JPG|Bridge

References

References

1. "AIG Tower". Emporis.com.
2. "Furama Kempinski Hotel". Emporis.com.
3. "AIG Tower". SkyscraperPage.com.
4. link. (22 May 2011 , ''The Standard'', 21 June 1997)
5. link. (2 November 2007 ,''[[The Standard (Hong Kong)). The Standard]]'', 18 November 2002
6. link. (22 May 2011 , ''The Standard'', 1 March 2000)
7. link. (22 May 2011 , ''The Standard'', 11 March 2000)

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