There are pros and cons about Bamboo Grove. PROS 1. LOCATION. LOCATION. LOCATION. Located in Wan Chai, it is close proximity to Causeway Bay, Central and Admiralty. The building location has the perfect balance of being far away from the hustle and bustle (aka Noise and crowds) and being close enough to businesses and stores within walking distance. Located on the quiet street of Kennedy Road, there is never massive traffic or bus noise. Only the 28 Minibus runs through here. It is only a 3-4 minute walk from Hopewell Center, where you can find restaurants, a supermarket, Starbucks, bank, a bookstore, the list goes on. It is also close to a wet market, buses, Queens Road East. MTR is about a 7 minute walk. The convenience is remarkable. 2. SIZE OF FLAT. Most of the flats here are about 1800+ square feet. This is HUGE by Hong Kong standards. There are 6 towers and most towers have about 35 floors. Each floor has 2 units, which means you share your floor with only 1 other neighbor. Besides Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen, Storage Room, most flats have 3 bedrooms, 2 baths + a helpers room and helpers bathroom. There is a back door and a back staircase to put rubbish, plus a freight elevator for deliveries. 3. FACILITY. This is one of the premium estates so the facilities are great. The building comes with a gym, outdoor swimming pool, outdoor playground/swing, sauna, squash court, dance hall, meeting rooms, an indoor kids playroom, infant/toddler playroom, a piano room and a convenience store. It also has a nice outdoor "podium" level where the kids can ride their bikes or scooters. The building also provides a shuttle to Central during the morning and evening peak times, although there is a fee of $8 per ride. I must say that all of these things are very, very nice, especially if you have young kids. The indoor kids playroom and swimming pool came in very handy during school breaks. 4. SERVICE. Our family does enjoy the many activities that BG offer over the course of the year. They put on free events for the residents at least 2x a month. The events vary from simple ones like movie nights to more elaborate events such as the Chinese New Year festival, where BG provide lion dances, food, games and prizes for the children. I also love that there is enough interest among the many residents here that we have the opportunity to have swim and dance teachers come to BG to teach the class. These are of course, paid classes but I like the convenience that my little one doesn't have to go anywhere to take these extra-curricular classes! CONS 1. HIGH RENT AND MGMT FEES. All the pros above come with a very high cost. You can see how much they charge per flat on their website. For a 3-bed, 2 bath flat in Block 74 or 76 can run you at least $70K. Block 78, 80, 82, add another $10-20K on top of that. And that's just the rent alone. The Management fees can run you up another $10K. It is extremely expensive to live here. Period. And if you renew your lease, they will always raise your rent by at least 15%! 2. BUILDING AGE. The building is well-kept with the # of staff they hire to run this place, but it is beginning to show signs of its age. For one, the A/C unit within each flat is still in the dinosaur-age. It is loud and highly inefficient. During peak summer months, expect to pay over $2k a month. If you stay home and need to run the A/C all day, the bill can easily be over $4k!! I've heard some neighbors' bills go even higher! The swimming pool and the playroom are also showing signs of deterioration. 3. CONCRETE WALLS. I think this problem is not limited to just BG, but it is a con for me. First of all, if you want paintings hung, you will have to drill a hole into the concrete wall. It is a huge hassle so at the end, our walls are bare. The concrete walls do not work well with wireless routers. The signal can not go through the walls so if you have your router installed in one of the 3 bedrooms, you can almost guarantee that you can not find signal in your living room. The concrete walls also means no installation whatsoever. You can actually hear noise from your neighbors downstairs, upstairs, and those in the next building. Even when they are doing renovation 2 towers over, it feels like they are drilling inside your flat! Overall, BG is a FABULOUS place to live, if you can afford it. I loved our 2 years there. If I have to live in HKG again, I would still choose this place in a heartbeat. read more

竹林苑 - Podium - Hong Kong, HK