The notorious red-light area of Mongkok, where tourists and visitors alike find the seamy side of life, is being rapidly transformed into a middle-class shopping, entertainment, dining and accommodation precinct.

In a move that mirrors the upgrading of Times Square in New York City, impressive new real estate projects are rapidly changing the face of what was for many years almost a no-go area for the genteel.

The cause of the transformation is the opening of the gigantic shopping plaza of Langham Place and its associate five-star hotel, Langham Place Hotel. The 665-room property above the Mongkok mass transit railway station is set to become prime accommodation for global business travellers. It is the first major hotel to open in urban Kowloon in 10 years.

The 165,600m2 Langham Place mall and commercial development sprawls over four city blocks, a massive project keyed on a 300-shop mall and a 59-storey office tower.

Langham Place Hotel managing director, Mr Brett Butcher, said there was enormous potential for the area surrounding the hotel and commercial-retail complex.

But a stroll around the area showed many of Mongkok’s infamous brothels and nightclubs were still very much in business.

In back alleys and side streets, dozens of colourfully printed advertisements promote the charms of ladies in one-woman brothels, which slip through a legal loophole and operate openly.

Despite constant police raids to arrest mainland visitors who come to Hong Kong on tourist visas and then go to work in the vice trade, there is constant demand and a surge in supply of these brothels.

But Langham Place and the tidal wave of middle-class consumers and well-heeled hotel guests it attracts are swiftly driving up rents in the area, according to Yau Tsim Mong District Council chairman, Mr Henry Chan.

Shanghai Street, flanked by the hotel on one side and the mall on the other, is set to become a glistening shopping boulevard.

Ladies of the night will soon be unable to compete for real estate with upmarket shops selling designer labels.

Commercial rents in nearby streets have already jumped 10 per cent in a month and rental prices are expected to rise even more as existing leases expire and new ones are drawn up. Some rents have risen as much as 70 per cent in a few months.

Mr Chan said: “Some of the brothels may not survive because of the rise in rent. The police will inevitably work harder to crack down on them. The trend is to go middle class.” – Kevin Sinclair