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Hong Kong property
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Fivelements to shut Times Square spa amid quibbles over rent, as uncertainties of Hong Kong’s recovery stymies businesses

  • Fivelements Habitat’s wellness centre on level 13A of Times Square’s Tower One will cease operating at 6pm on September 30, according to a notice
  • The wellness centre, measuring 15,000 sq ft, is estimated to cost HK$975,000 in monthly rent

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Fivelements Habitat at Times Square in July 2019. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Lam Ka-sing

Fivelements Habitat, which provides yoga sessions, spa treatments and plant-based cuisine, is shutting its Times Square wellness centre in Causeway Bay after two years of operation, as it failed to reach an agreement with landlord Wharf Reic on the terms of its lease renewal.

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The centre, located on level 13A of Times Square’s Tower One, will cease operating at 6pm on September 30, ahead of the expiry of its lease in December, according to a notice to customers.

“We were reaching an inflection point where we’re required to commit to a further lease term and we were not able to reach an economically viable agreement with the landlord,” said Jason Washbourne, managing director of Fivelements’ owner Evolution Wellness Hong Kong in an email interview with the South China Morning Post.

Fivelements, which opened in Times Square in July 2019, is the latest business to pull back in Hong Kong, after two years of economic havoc first wreaked by months of street protests, and then by lockdowns to contain the coronavirus outbreak. Now, as Hong Kong’s economy claws its way out of its worst recession on record, local businesses are grappling with how they should price commercial real estate while consumption is yet to fully recover amid tentative foot traffic.
The soundscape room at the Fivelements Habitat wellness centre at Times Square. Photo: Jonathan Wong
The soundscape room at the Fivelements Habitat wellness centre at Times Square. Photo: Jonathan Wong
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Pedestrian traffic has visibly improved at many shopping centres in Hong Kong, including Wharf’s Times Square and Harbour City, as the first HK$2,000 instalment of the city’s consumption vouchers which took effect last month set off a spending spree at shops and restaurants.
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