678 Cultural Creative Park: Avoiding the Generic

Erik Kuong, operational and creative director of Creative Links Limited, moved in to 678 Cultural Creative Park on Istmo de Ferreira do Amaral in 2015 with his partners. Currently, the three of them are co-renting a unit, operating in businesses that cover film, sound effects, design and multimedia production.

Synergy Creates Creativity

Kuong said that, in the current market, the rental for industrial units is priced at MOP $10-11 per square feet, while that at 678 costs MOP $9 per square feet, making the office space there very affordable. Moreover, there is a key factor that made him decide to choose 678 – a lease for a tenancy of five years. The lease stipulated that the percentage of rent increase every year so that the tenant can estimate the rental expenses for the next five years.

“I have friends who have rented industrial units before, and while the rental periods were quite short, the cost of rental of those units has increased by 40% to 50% by the following year, creating lots of uncertainty for them as tenants. For example, if one were to rent a unit to serve as a sound recording studio, considerable refurbishment works to enhance sound insulation is needed, and so a very short contract will make the venue very undesirable.”

Prior to their move to 678, Kuong and his partners invested in a two-storey ground floor retail outlet that combined studio with office space, but in the end they decided to move in to an industrial location. Kuong explained: “Co-renting with other companies has the advantage of pooling together our production capabilities, as we can meet and discuss collaborative opportunities at hand. If there are designers who wish to showcase their products to clients, they will come to present to us and seek our comments.”

At 678, there are car-parking facilities for the tenants, as well as building security services such as round-the-clock concierge. Kuong is pleased with the standards of the services, although he felt that there is room for improvement where market positioning is concerned.

“I think the management company has refurbished the building on the assumption that the government would support cultural and creative industries. They may not be experienced enough to operate such a creative park. At the end of the day, it seems more like a landlord-tenant relationship, rather than a hub that attracts cultural enterprises.”

The Need of Niche for Creative Parks

“Local creative hub operators should align their activities with their market positioning so as to focus on relevant enterprises. Currently, the tenants seem to be choosing their venues on the basis of rental and environments.”

Kuong remarked that, for early startups that are unincoporated, they do often need an office space to discuss and brainstorm business ideas among themselves, and so requires a friendly, relaxing environment. Moreover, more practical, business-oriented talks should be held there regularly, so as to encourage the meeting of like minds. For those more established companies, their needs will be quite different. At the moment, these hubs tend to appear generic. He said: “When they are too generic, the functionalities become redundant.”

Kuong believed that there are a lot of resources in Macao conducive to the development of such parks. What is lacking is the wisdom to use these fully. “We can analyse and compare the different cultural spaces in various regions. The only concern is that no one would know what works best for Macao. Since the government’s approach nowadays is to offer a generic environment, there is a lack of focus in the use of resources. We have made some progress in many different areas rather than built up our own niche, there is little synergy to build on.”