Mainland homebuilder China Evergrande Group is buying a second mixed-use project in Chongqing, western China, as part of a RMB3.29 billion (US$498 million) deal.
Still under construction, the 320,000sqm development includes offices, retail and residences. The deal follows the company paying $903 million for a similar project in the city more than two years ago.
Evergrande, ranked last year as China’s biggest residential developer by sales, is picking up the development in the city’s business district of Jiefangbei from Chongqing-based Ying Li International Real Estate. The Ying Li International Commercial Centre (ICC) will include two office towers and a six-storey shopping mall.
Under the terms of the deal, Evergrande subsidiary Shengyu (BVI) will pay RMB2.77 billion for the project itself while buying RMB514.7 million of land tender deposits from Singapore-listed Ying Li. In turn, Ying Li has agreed to spend RMB520 million to complete the acquisition of a separate land parcel in Chongqing to be transferred to Shengyu.
Ying Li started building ICC, then called Ying Li Financial Street, in 2013 after picking up two adjacent parcels of land in 2010 and 2011. The project has started pre-sales registration, and phase one is slated for completion next year, followed by phase two in 2020.
In October 2015, Guangdong-based Evergrande spent HK$7 billion (US$895.8 million) to acquire a mixed-use project in Jiangbei district from a consortium of Hong Kong property firms.
As well as ICC, Ying Li is also developing the Ying Li International Hardware and Electrical Centre (IEC), a 1.32 million sqm hub for hardware and electrical vendors in Chongqing’s Jiangjin district.