Greenland Group Breaks Ground on 48-Storey Toronto Project

Greenland Group, China’s largest developer by sales, began construction of its third project in North America on Friday when it broke ground on a pair of towers in downtown Toronto.

The King Blue development in Toronto’s entertainment district will include 44 and 48-storey blocks holding 910 condominiums, a 122 room boutique hotel and Canada’s first theatre museum.

Commencement for the Canadian project comes one week after Shanghai-based Greenland broke ground on a $922 million London complex, and less than two weeks after the developer won approval for a backdoor listing on Shanghai’s stock exchange.

Launching in Los Angeles, New York and Toronto

The King Blue project, which Greenland acquired in March 2014, has been approved by local authorities to include condos and a seven-floor Primus brand hotel in its 48-storey tower, while the shorter block will hold more residential units and the 930 square meter (10,000 square foot) museum.

Greenland’s Toronto ground-breaking comes after the developer broke ground on the $1 billion Metropolis project in Los Angeles last year, and just a few months after it began construction the Brooklyn Yards project in New York

Greenland Group (Canada) President, Henry Cao says, “2015 is an exciting year for Greenland. We are pleased that this is the time we have chosen to break ground on our first project in Canada.”

State-Owned Giant Launching into Toronto Housing Glut

Greenland over the last two years has taken on projects in London, Sydney, Melbourne, and Malaysia in addition to its North American projects, however, some analysts question the timing of its Canadian project.

According to an account in Bloomberg, a record 80,000 multi-family homes are currently under construction in Toronto, prompting ratings agency Fitch to predict a drop of as much as 10 percent in local condo prices.

State-owned Greenland, however, says that it is expecting to increase its number of employees in Canada by more than 50 percent this year, and is currently seeking more projects in the Canadian cities of Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary.