By Amy Chen

An upcoming Toronto condominium development is being presold in Hong Kong for a $50,000 discount, social media advertising by the promoter shows.

Hong Win International Group Ltd is promoting ZEN King West, development by CentreCourt Developments currently under construction at 926 King Street West.

Hong Win International was the same promoter behind the Hong Kong presale of Onni Group’s Vancouver condo project at a discount causing an uproar and leading to the promotion being shut down.

Guests at an event held last weekend at the Excelsior Hotel in Hong Kong were offered VVIP internal discount up to $50,000 for the pre-purchase of ZEN King West condo units^[1]https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1142460615887208&id=668690993264175 archive:http://archive.is/oVdlS.

The condo units are priced at between $420K for a one bedroom and $630K for a two bedroom and den^[2]https://zenkingwest.com/assets/pdf/Zen-King-West-Price-List_2017-10-01.pdf.

Hong Win claims to be CentreCourt’s exclusive Asia sales agent, and boasts of selling 50 units of the Toronto developer’s Axis Condos project.

Last month, Hong Win heavily promoted Onni’s project at 1335 Howe, Vancouver, which was heavily criticized for offering presales to overseas buyers for cheaper than what Canadian buyers had to pay.

“Every buyer who has successfully purchased the onni project at a fair this weekend has a special discount, which is cheaper than buying in Canada,” the Facebook page for the event read^[3]original: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1134791789987424&id=668690993264175 archive: http://archive.is/qMlhp.

“Many people in Hong Kong feel that the property market is not a product that can be bought by ordinary people, and that Canada, Vancouver or Toronto, has now become the preferred choice for many Hong Kong people,” the Facebook post boasted.

Following the public outcry, the controversial developer claimed that the promotion company acted without authorization, even though the promoter had received an award for being the “#1 Producer” from Onni.

“In response to the article published by ThinkPol we would like to clarify that these claims are completely false,” Executive Vice-President Chris Evans stated in a release^[4]https://www.onni.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Official-Onni-Statement-2017.pdf. “The Onni Group has no connection to Hong Win International’s marketing efforts, and did not authorize any of their sales promotions mentioned in regards to our Vancouver and Toronto properties currently being sold. These statements are 100% false and are not condoned by Onni in any way.”

“We have been in contact with Hong Win International and they have ceased all of their marketing efforts and apologized for their error,” Evans added.

Hong Win international disabled its Facebook page following the scandal, but seems to have reinstated the page for the Toronto promotion.

We have reached out to CentreCourt Developments for comments, but we have yet to receive a response.