Last month, real estate investor Loi Keong Kuong bought The 13 Hotel in Macau’s Coloane district. Now Loi has sold five historic Singapore shophouses in Singapore, suggesting he is freeing capital for a major renovation of the luxury tower.
The opulent 13 was a pet project of Hong Kong billionaire Stephen Hung. The $1.4 billion property targeted Macau’s wealthiest patrons. The interiors were designed to evoke the Palace at Versailles (the hotel was originally known as the Louis XIII).
Outsized appointments included private butlers, massive crystal chandeliers and a fleet of 22 red and gold Rolls Royce Phantoms. Each hotel room represented an investment of $7 million.
Throwback to Macau’s high-roller era
But The 13 broke ground just as Chinese President Xi Jinping came to power, near the end of Macau’s once-dominant VIP era. The president’s strict anti-ostentation campaign – still ongoing – decimated the high-roller segment. And the local government’s accompanying crackdown on capital flight virtually ended the junket industry.
The 13 was also handicapped by its failure to win a casino licence. It had banked on offering a satellite casino with 166 table games.
As a result, the Cotai Strip property operated for under two years, from August 2018 to February 2020, before closing its doors due to Covid-19. In 2023, previous owner South Shore Holdings Ltd filed for bankruptcy. It was also delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Last year, the bank-owned property resumed limited operations when the Macau Government Tourism Office renewed its hotel licence.
Complete redo in the works
Loi bought The 13 at a bargain-basement price. Listed for $2.4 billion in March 2024, it sold for just $76 million. At the time of the acquisition, Mark Wong of realtor Jones Lang Lasalle told the Macau Daily Times the hotel would be “fully renovated”.
Loi just sold five historic shophouses on Pagoda Street in Singapore, pocketing $26.24 million. Sources told the Singapore Business Times the mogul may be “rebalancing [his] real estate portfolio in favour of Macau and other markets”.
The new owner of The 13 in Macau has divested of several Singapore properties, apparently to fund the hotel’s renovation.