Chinese developers muscling in to Bay Area housing market

The flood of Chinese money into Bay Area housing is coming not just from home buyers. The only U.S. metro area attracting more Chinese development dollars between 2013 and 2015 was New York and its boroughs, according to Jim Costello, a senior vice president with Real Capital Analytics. Can they hire some local brokers with Chinese language skills who can go back and forth” between the U.S. and foreign partners “and even potentially Chinese buyers? The newest investment came in late February from Landsea Holdings, the U.S. subsidiary of one of China’s largest home builders. Watt was planning to build one or two of the villages itself, but “we ended up getting an offer from Landsea that made it attractive ... to sell the whole project,” said Max Frank, a Watt division president. Chinese developers generally prefer permitted properties, said Darlene Chiu Bryant, executive director of ChinaSF, which promotes economic ties between the city and China. Robert Ritner, Singpoli’s head of architecture and design services, said the company has domestic and foreign investors. In 2013, Hongye International Investment Group of Wuhai, China, invested $100 million in Singpoli to develop real estate construction in California and other projects. Singpoli’s website says Landmark is a joint venture with Shanghai Bading Group. [...] Ritner said the developer is BDK Capital, which according to news reports is a joint venture between Singpoli and American BD. Kin Hui, Singpoli’s CEO, did not return phone calls. The program awards green cards to foreign investors and their families who invest at least $500,000 or $1 million (depending on the location) in a business that directly or indirectly creates or preserves 10 U.S. jobs. Of the more than 400 units sold, about 80 percent went to Bay Area residents, 10 percent to Chinese buyers and 10 percent to other international buyers, a Tishman spokesman said. In April 2013, Signature Development Group of Oakland said it had brought in Zarsion Holdings Group, a Beijing home builder, to co-develop the $1.5 billion mixed-use Brooklyn Basin. The 64-acre project on Oakland’s waterfront will have 3,100 residential units, 200,000 square feet of commercial space and 30 acres of parks and open space. Encompassing two towers, it would add 1 million square feet of office space, 169 hotel rooms and 12,500 square feet of ground floor retail. R&F Properties, a Chinese real estate developer based in Guangzhou, has gone on a buying binge in the Bay Area since acquiring its first U.S. property, 555 Fulton St. in Hayes Valley.