A big-city heart beats again

Downtown Los Angeles is undergoing a rejuvenation, and Chinese property developers are playing a major role. [Photo by Lia Zhu/China Daily]

First stop

Los Angeles was the Chinese investors' first stop because it's a gateway city, and the downtown is the closest metropolitan area to China, he said, adding that the area was attractive for developers because of relatively low construction costs and more reasonable property prices.

In Manhattan, a condo can cost more than $1,500 per square foot and in San Francisco more than $12,000 per square foot, but in Los Angeles the average condo cost is $700 per square foot.

The Los Angeles city government has been aggressively attracting foreign direct investment, especially in the real estate industry for its downtown renaissance plan.

"I traveled with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to China on a trade mission years ago. The mayor said the skyline of all the Chinese cities visited－Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong－were so beautiful. The lights and contemporary designs were unbelievable.

He said, 'I want to change the Los Angeles skyline,'" recalled Pan.

Then the government promoted real estate development, and came up with the innovative "parallel permit process", allowing developers to start construction before going through the entire process, which usually takes two to three years.

"Now it takes only a year or a year and a half. By saving a lot of time, you can control the cost," said Pan.

A proposal for a 28-story mixed-use tower by Lifan Group, a major Chinese manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles, was fi led early this year, and the company expects to finish permit procedures by the end of this year. By April, the demolition work on the 1-acre site had been completed.

"There's been a challenge for Chinese developers to navigate US rules and regulations, but it's been an education," said William Wang, vice president of Lifan USA Real Estate, Inc, a subsidiary of Lifan Group.

The Lifan Tower will have 305 residential units and 15 percent will be low-income residences. "We were not familiar with that (low-income residence). After talks with the city, we decided to contribute to the supply of low-income housing because by giving back to the community, you can earn something else."

Wang said that his company hires local professionals－from legal, financial to public relations－to make sure it follows and respects local laws and the culture.

A couple of other Chinese developers' projects in downtown Los Angeles are undergoing the permit process, including Hazens's proposed three towers with a 300-room W Hotel and two mixed-use buildings with 650 condos and approximately 80,000 square feet of retail space.

Since 2014 to 2016, Chinese developers were involved in at least seven of 18 land deals in the downtown area that were valued in excess of $19 million, according to the Los Angeles Times. They have been involved because of their strong background in building residential towers in China, said Cheung.

"Not only do they bring the capital, they also bring the know-how, and the ability to construct quickly and in a cost-effective manner," he said. "These major billion-dollar construction projects are happening over and over again, and it's all done by Chinese investors."

Winston Yan, chief technical officer and vice-president of Greenland USA in Los Angeles, is proud of the speed at which the Metropolis is being built, considering the complex and tough seismic building codes.

Compared with the magnitude of Greenland's projects in China, the Metropolis isn't one of the largest, but it will have deeper and more far-reaching impact on Los Angeles and Angelenos than economic value, said Yan.

"As people live farther and farther, driving longer distance, they also cause many urban problems such as traffic congestion and pollution. We want to introduce this environmental lifestyle, which is actually an old style only long forgotten," he said.