Stretches of green farmland and shimmering ponds, winding village roads and sprawling brownfield logistics yards all lend Hung Shui Kiu in the New Territories a patchwork look of rustic Hong Kong standing in stark contrast to its glistening skyscrapers.This rural landscape is slated for radical transformation under the government’s ambitious Northern Metropolis blueprint and is primed to be reinvented as a modernised logistics hub in the near future.However, the premise of this transformation relies heavily on market buy-in. The project faced its first litmus test with the closing of the site tender last Friday, which was also the government’s first new large-scale land disposal tender.The tender has defied conservative expectations by drawing two submissions, comprising one solo bid and one massive joint venture.“Even with only one bid, the government will treat it as a success,” said Hannah Jeong, head of valuation and advisory services at CBRE Hong Kong.Others have hailed the turnout as a success given the current property downturn and noted that large consortiums made up of local and mainland Chinese firms would become the norm for Northern Metropolis developments due to the sheer scale and complexity of these multi-use plots.