Artist’s Conception of Baiyun Greenland Centre
Singaporean mall developer CapitaMalls Asia announced this week that it is investing RMB 2.2 billion (US$361 million) to acquire a mall in Guangzhou, China – its first in the city.
The government-linked developer, which is part of the CapitaLand group will acquire the mall from Greenland Real Estate, a subsidiary of state-owned Greenland Group – one of China’s largest real estate companies.
When complete, the eight-storey shopping mall (including 2 basement levels) will have a total gross floor area, excluding car park, of about 86,000 square metres. From 2014, the project is targeted to open in phases and will serve a population catchment of about 1.1 million people within a 3-km radius.
The mall is part of Baiyun Greenland Centre, which also comprises a 200 metre-high office tower – the tallest landmark in Guangzhou’s Baiyun district.
Speaking of the mall acquistion, Mr Lim Beng Chee, CEO of CapitaMalls Asia, said, “This new mall in Guangzhou will mark our strategic entry into a first-tier city in South China. It will bring the number of our malls in the region to eight, of which four, – including the new mall – are located within or about an hour’s drive from one another.”
The deal is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2014 and is subject to regulatory approvals, the company said.
In July of this year, CapitaMalls Asia acquired the Grand Canyon Mall in Beijing from Capital Airport Real Estate Group Co., Ltd for a reported RMB1.74 billion. In 2012, the company also started a joint venture with a unit of Suzhou Industrial Park to co-develop 290,000 sqm mixed-use project including a seven-storey shopping mall and two Grade-A office towers in Suzhou.
Including this development, CapitaMalls Asia now has 62 shopping malls in 37 cities in China, of which 51 are operational while the other 11 are under development.
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