Central is Hong Kong's primary business district and one of the world's most concentrated commercial addresses. The neighbourhood — sometimes still called The Central — sits on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, runs roughly between Sheung Wan to the west and Admiralty to the east, and packs more global financial-services density into one square mile than just about anywhere outside Manhattan or the City of London. HSBC's main building, Standard Chartered, Bank of China Hong Kong, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and the HKSAR Government's main offices are all here. Add the city's top law firms, the regional offices of every major consulting firm and Big Four practice, and the HKEX (Stock Exchange) at Exchange Square, and you've got a tenant base where the only constant is high-value corporate work. Coworking in Central reflects that gravity. WeWork holds multiple buildings here, including California Tower; The Executive Centre, Spaces, Regus, The Hive Central, Garage Society and theDesk all run dense networks across the district. Many of these operators have multiple Central or near-Central locations within a fifteen-minute walk of each other, which is unusual outside London or New York. The coworking tenant base in Central is unusually senior. Founders raising Series A or later, regional GMs for international firms, single-family offices, hedge-fund teams, fintech start-ups and consulting practices form the bulk of long-term members, with a steady stream of visiting executives and project teams using day passes and hot desks. Connectivity is one of the district's biggest advantages. Central MTR station serves the Tsuen Wan and Island lines; Hong Kong station gives you the Airport Express direct to Chek Lap Kok (about twenty-four minutes) and the Tung Chung line. The Star Ferry connects Central to Tsim Sha Tsui across Victoria Harbour, and the Central–Mid-Levels Escalator (the world's longest outdoor covered escalator system) handles much of the steep walk south into SoHo and the Mid-Levels. For occupiers that want to compare a coworking footprint against a traditional Central lease in the same district, the offices to rent Hong Kong market sits side-by-side — same area, often the same buildings, different format. And for teams that prefer a slightly less premium per-square-foot rate while staying within walking distance, a Wan Chai business centre one MTR stop east tends to be the natural alternative for serviced suites with a more flexible commercial profile.
