Bellagio / Sham Tseng

[psampras88]

Visited some flats recently all the way from Tung Chung , DB, Tuen Mun, Gold Coast and found Bellagio in Shum Tseng to be a very attractive place for an expat family - low rents and excellent facilities and location (just by the Tsing Ma bridge) - local friends told me transport is good as long as you know how to take those mini-buses - anybody would know what the catch is? isn't this place too good to be true?

[larac]

I just moved there in January and so far so good. Our neighbours upstairs are a bit noisy - selecting and apartment below one of the refuge floors would be best. We are in Tower 8 with a great sea view.
If you have a car get a park on a floor that the main lifts go to you you don't have to use the service elevator. The recreation facitlities are well used so you need to book in advance and I fear the pool could be a bit mad in summer. The 2 supermarkets across the road are ok plus we have had Welcome deliver and been to the supermarket at the Gold Coast. For us it is way better than the Gold Coast. Lots of mini buses to places I've never heard of.
We had a great place on HK Island before this but it was way more expensive and smaller. I think Bellagio is great value for money. Not many westerners around and not as many people speak English but so far it hasn't been a problem.If you have any other questions let me know.

[psampras88]

Larac,

Thanks for this very useful feedback, which confirms what my local colleagues had told me.
Indeed, I found the sea views breathtaking, especially when visiting some of the newer flats on Tower 1 facing south directly to the bridges - I could see as far as Sheung Wan and Kennedy Town in the background with a bit of IFC and Bel-Air towers as well, with the ships slowly moving across....a very unique view in HK, and much better than the views you get from the South side of HK island where I used to live (with a rent 5 times as expensive as Bellagio) - I almost signed up the lease on the spot! There seems to be quite a lot of flats available for rent though, so will be having another round of visits this weekend.

SOome more questions though:

- are the aircrafts taking off noisy? (I could see runway 25R approach lights to the west, meaning the Tower 1 apartments are right below the departure path)
- I usually reach the office by 8:15am in Central - what time would I have to leave Bellagio and is the road conencting up to the highway congested?
- when I visited, the resort was very quiet (my agent and I were the only ones walking the huge podium!) - it was week day though - is the area crowded on weekends (i guess the roast goose restaurants must be attracting crowd over the weekend?)
- I noticed some barbeque areas on the podium: aren't they noisy and smelly on weekends? (this might not be an issue though from a 50+ floor)
- do you think one needs a car when living in Bellagio?

Thanks again for the advice

[DaveD]

Bellagio is really nice, I moved in 1 week ago... and I really start enjoying it. The advantage of the newer towers (1, 2, 3 and 5): YOu will have a nice balcony... I m not clearly sure if the Tower 1 A, B and C flats do have a balcony, but Flat D surely has. :-)
In Tower 2, 3 or 5 I would go for Flat B, although Tower 5 is too close to the "old" phase.

There is a Citybus going to Central. Though I never took it in the early morning, it usually takes you to Hong Kong Island / Central and Admiralty in 25 minutes. It runs about twice per hour, more frequently during peak times.

Both supermarkes - Parknshop and Wellcome - deliver when you place your order online. There are also some western restaurants here in Sham Tseng, but more in Tsing Yi (about 12 mins by minu bus) and Tsuem Wan (8 mins by mini bus.)

Depends on what u want, but I dont think u need a car here.
By the way, only once last week the airplanes were coming into Hong Kong from Bellagio direction
The other days they took off towards Bellagio, but u could not hear them at all - so this is really no problem.

Bellagio residents can rent the BBQ areas, but honestly said I never heard or smelled much.... I put my own BBQ on my balcony though .

Before, I also lived on the south side.... I must say that both views are quite spectacular, but the rents on South Side are not 5 times as high as Bellagio...
But here you surely get more for your money.

How much was the flat facing the bridge? About 1200sqft?

Larac,

Thanks for this very useful feedback, which confirms what my local colleagues had told me.
Indeed, I found the sea views breathtaking, especially when visiting some of the newer flats on Tower 1 facing south directly to the bridges - I could see as far as Sheung Wan and Kennedy Town in the background with a bit of IFC and Bel-Air towers as well, with the ships slowly moving across....a very unique view in HK, and much better than the views you get from the South side of HK island where I used to live (with a rent 5 times as expensive as Bellagio) - I almost signed up the lease on the spot! There seems to be quite a lot of flats available for rent though, so will be having another round of visits this weekend.

SOome more questions though:

- are the aircrafts taking off noisy? (I could see runway 25R approach lights to the west, meaning the Tower 1 apartments are right below the departure path)
- I usually reach the office by 8:15am in Central - what time would I have to leave Bellagio and is the road conencting up to the highway congested?
- when I visited, the resort was very quiet (my agent and I were the only ones walking the huge podium!) - it was week day though - is the area crowded on weekends (i guess the roast goose restaurants must be attracting crowd over the weekend?)
- I noticed some barbeque areas on the podium: aren't they noisy and smelly on weekends? (this might not be an issue though from a 50+ floor)
- do you think one needs a car when living in Bellagio?

Thanks again for the advice

[joel81]

what is the rents like at the bellagio? been to that areas couple of times. and really liked it. unfortunately have already renewed my contract at the current place in city one shatin. but would difinetly like to keep it as an option for next year. would really appreciate if someone could have me the rates.

[larac]

Take a look at gohome.com.hk for an idea of rents on different floors. Anywhere from about $6k for 2bd mountain view to $16k for 3 bd sea view I think.

We looked at about 5 different apartments in the complex when choosing. I prefer the view from Towers 6,7,8,9 - looking right at the bridge even though they don't have balconys and are a bit older and we chose Tower 8 because the towers are arranged in an L shape and near the corner you felt too close to the other buildings.

There are lots of empty apartments - i would estimate half of T1 and T4 are empty judging by the lack of lights and curtains we can see. All up if the place was full I would say about 9,000 people live in the complex but it is not crowded - each tower has 5 quite fast lifts.

I have been home on a weekday a few times - the Clubhouse was busy but very quiet outside. During the week you have the usual morning exercisers outside but on the weekend the Tennis Courts, playgrounds and bbq areas all get used quite a bit.

Our last place was only 130 people , 1 tower, 2 apts per floor. With 8 apartments per floor it is definatley noisier and you can smell food and animal smells in the communal lift areas but not inside really.

You do hear a few planes and the first night we though 'oh no' but I think the flight path changes with the weather a bit so really I hardly notice it.

The 'village' shops and restaurants are busy and lively but not crowded at all. One thing I like is that it has some life - the Gold Coast was a morgue by comparasion.

[larac]

I work in Tuen Mun so am always against the traffic flow but with an on and off ramp in both directions for the highway travelling is easy. A carpark would cost you about $1800 per month. We have a car for work and drving to town is quick and easy but remember the $40 toll each way for the Western Tunnel if you drive plus in town parking. The bus takes longer of course but there is only 1 stop by the tunnel btwn Sham Tseng and the Shun Tak Building so it is a good run. The complex has shuttle buses to Tseun Wan.

Dave - what tower are you in?
Ours is T8 flat B - 3 bedrooms and big windows at the front, It must be more than 1200 because our last place was 1196 and this is way bigger. Much bigger than we realised - we had to buy more furniture. I guess it is all about 'efficiency' though.

[DaveD]

Dave - what tower are you in?
Ours is T8 flat B - 3 bedrooms and big windows at the front, It must be more than 1200 because our last place was 1196 and this is way bigger. Much bigger than we realised - we had to buy more furniture. I guess it is all about 'efficiency' though.

I m in Tower 1, Flat D, I think it's 1204 or so.

Do you play tennis? I m a beginner I would say - but I m really interested in playing it a bit.

[psampras88]

Took a day off and dropped by Bellagio again today (could not wait for the weekend) and today the flights are taking off toward Shum Tseng - I spent some time observing the flights and the good news is that the aircrafts are so high when reaching Sham Tseng that you barely notice them; also, most of them make a right turn and take a south direction before reaching the area so you dont even hear these at all - oooofffff....I am much more comfortable now.

I also timed the Mini-buses and indeed one can reach Central Post office in precisely 33min in the morning. The (expensive) Western tunnel does make a big difference. The min buses also dont stop in between which makes the commute even shorter.

Will be timing the Jordan and Causeway Bay ones soon.

I do own a car already so will be keeping it for the weekend outings.

Some more questions:

- my agent has quoted me HKD 2,000 / month for a car park; is this variance related to the location of the car park?

- has anyone done some renovation work in their apartments in Bellagio and could recommend a good designer?

[larac]

For the carpark each agent in Sham Tseng has at least 3 so shop around. Our agent told us when we were first looking around $1800 so when we got here and he tried to tell us it would be $2000 we just refused and made him find us one for less. He keeps saying there aren't many available but I can tell you there are heaps of empty spaces but maybe alot are owned and never used - this was the case in our last building. Anyway our first 3 weeks were on the 3rd floor at $1800pm and this month we are on the 8th floor for $1700 and next month I think we will be on the 7thh for $1800. The other agents we spoke to quoted between $1700 and $2,400 for a park.

Dave we are going to try out the tennis on Sunday morning so if you see two gweilos looking very rusty come down and say hi.