The speed at which Ifei Chang, 49, assumed her position as president and chief... Read More
It took just one 15-minute phone call in July to persuade Ifei Chang to join Shanghai-based developer Greenland Holding Group Co. and lead a U.S. expansion. Within three months, she was running $6 billion of projects as part of a record push by Chinese investors into American property.
Greenland reached a preliminary agreement in October to buy a 70 percent stake in the $5 billion Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn, New York. That followed a July deal to acquire a $1 billion residential-and-entertainment project in downtown Los Angeles. Chang, who took charge of that site upon arriving in the U.S., is now on the hunt for more investments.
“In China, you climb a ladder where everything is floating and moving so fast,” Chang, 49, said in an interview at her sparsely furnished 46th-floor L.A. office overlooking the empty lot where the Metropolis project will be built. “We come from a country of 1.4 billion people and a lot of economic growth. This kind of project and investment speed is very normal in China. That’s why we are so confident we will deliver this project.”
Greenland, like other Chinese companies, is committing to a growing number of multibillion-dollar developments outside of its home market. Chinese investments in U.S. commercial properties jumped almost 10-fold last year from 2012, with Manhattan the biggest area for purchases, followed by other New York City boroughs and Los Angeles, according to research firm Real Capital Analytics Inc.
Greenland Holding Group Co. President Ifei Chang, left, is seeking additional projects...Read More
Greenland Expansion
Greenland, the state-owned builder that’s also developing one of China’s tallest towers, has become one of its country’s biggest investors in U.S. real estate. The company’s Metropolis project, acquired from the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, is planned as a 275,450-square-foot (25,600-square-meter) development with hotels, apartments and luxury condominiums. Chang, president and chief executive officer of Greenland U.S. Holding Inc., expects completion within five years, with aspirations “to graduate early,” she said.
“This billion-dollar investment not only will bolster downtown Los Angeles’s economy, creating hundreds of jobs and generating ongoing tax revenue, but it will bring the kind of world-class amenities that will enhance the appeal of our city center nationally and internationally,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said in an e-mail.
Greenland agreed to buy most of Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards from the site’s original developer, Forest City Ratner Cos., after a couple of phone calls, a dinner and a visit by the seller’s executive team to Greenland’s Shanghai headquarters.
Atlantic Yards is viewed in Brooklyn, New York, October 2013. Greenland Holding Group... Read More
Definitive Contract
“Three weeks later, we had an agreement,” Chang said. The memorandum of understanding signed in October became a definitive contract in December.
Regulatory approval for Atlantic Yards LLC, the joint venture for the project, is expected by mid-year, Chang said. The 22-acre (8.9-hectare) development was initially approved in 2006 and delayed in part by the recession. Greenland’s investment will include 14 apartment buildings in Brooklyn, where rents are surging.
“The process and the people have been intense,” MaryAnne Gilmartin, president and CEO of Forest City Ratner, said in an e-mail. “Ifei has proven to be a force of nature -- determined, insightful and highly capable.”
Chang’s international background helped prepare her to implement Greenland’s ambitions. The Taiwanese-born developer is the third of five daughters. Her father was once an anti-communist soldier from mainland China, and her mother is a “tiger mom” who set expectations high for their children, Chang said.
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