Anbang Launches Sales of Waldorf Astoria Condos and More Asia Real Estate Headlines

A scandal-ridden mainland insurance company leads the way in Mingtiandi’s roundup of Asia real estate headlines today with the news that the Beijing-based firm is ready to brave New York’s luxury condo downturn with a plan to launch sales of 375 apartments carved out of the famed Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

In other news around the region, one of Blackstone’s India partners will be selling $389 million in assets recently acquired from a competitor to a REIT backed by the US private equity giant and a Hong Kong developer makes its first foray into the Indian capital.

In other New York-India tie-ups the team that brought free flow beer and ping pong to offices will be adding another 6,000 desks in Mumbai and Bengaluru, while in Shanghai, the Urban Land Institute recognised some excellent projects from around the region.

Anbang Puts Waldorf Astoria Condos on the Market in NYC

Luxury condos at the Waldorf Astoria hotel are expected to go on sale in the fall, as the historic property’s Chinese owner advances its redevelopment plans despite a market glut and political tensions with the US.

Beijing-based Anbang Insurance Group Co. bought the Waldorf for $1.95 billion in 2015, a record price for a US hotel. In 2017, it shut down the property to renovate and convert hundreds of the more than 1,400 guest rooms into private residences. Read more>>

Country Garden Unit in Maiden $101M India Tie-up

Hong Kong-based realty firm Risland Holdings — an overseas operating unit of China’s Country Garden Holdings — has forayed into the India real estate market and will develop its first housing project in the national capital at an estimated cost of Rs 700 crore ($101 million), a senior company official said.

Risland has tied up with local developer Uppal Group to construct a residential project near Chhattarpur in the national capital. Read more>>

Indiabulls to Exit Property Market After $389M Takeover

Embassy Group, which is in the process of buying a promoters’ stake in Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd (IBREL), plans to sell the office assets of IBREL to Embassy’s real estate investment trust, hire a new CEO for the Mumbai-based company and expand its portfolio by acquiring more projects, two people familiar with the plans said.

Bengaluru-based Embassy, backed by Blackstone Group LP, will buy around 39% stake of Indiabulls Group chairman Sameer Gehlaut and family for ₹2,700 crore ($389M) at an equity valuation of ₹7,000 crore. Read more>>

WeWork Adds 6,000 New Desks in India

New York-headquartered collaborative workspace firm WeWork’s India arm has leased over 4 lakh office space in Bengaluru and Mumbai to expand its operations.

The facilities will be spread across three locations in Bengaluru and Mumbai. The addition of new office space will see the co-working operator add over 6000 desks to existing 35000 desks across major cities in the country. Read more>>

Singapore Co-Location Market to Grow to $1.96 Billion by 2023

The Singapore data centre colocation market is projected to nearly double in the next five years as hyperscale cloud providers, content and digital media companies, and network and IT service providers expand further into emerging markets in Southeast Asia, according to a new report by cloud and data center focused Structure Research.

Singapore is a major financial centre, so it’s a natural colocation hub to serve emerging markets in Southeast Asia and in India, said Jabez Tan, Structure’s head of research. Read more>>

Mainland City Govt to Punish Developers for Slashing Home Prices

The Chinese city of Enshi has moved to stabilize house prices amid a worrying property slump by urging developers to stop drastic price cuts, threatening punishing measures unless such “wrong behaviors” stopped.

Developers have slashed prices at some estate projects in Enshi, a small city with less than one million in the central province of Hubei, as many new projects further strained an already slowing market, according to a three-page document issued by the Enshi Real Estate Association to its members seen by Reuters on Tuesday. Enshi housing bureau confirmed the authenticity of the document. Read more>>

ULI Announces 10 Asia Pacific Winners of Awards for Excellence

A jury composed of ULI full members has selected the winners of the 2019 ULI Asia Pacific Awards for Excellence, recognizing and celebrating a diverse group of projects that showcase best land use practice from across the region.

The winners included Pacific Place in Hong Kong, COFCO Landmark Plaza in Beijing, and Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) in Shanghai. Read more>>

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