HOUSTON – America Modern Green, a subsidiary of Beijing-based Modern Land China, has begun construction on a $300 million mixed-use project that will deliver office, retail, multifamily, seniors living and a hotel to Pearland, just south of Houston.
The 48-acre development, called the Ivy District, is expected to have a wide variety of commercial and residential building on-site upon completion in a few years. Ivy District will be located on Highway 288, eight miles south of the Texas Medical Center in southern Harris County.
The Ivy District is expected to include a 224-unit seniors community, 46 townhomes, more than 200,000 SF of Class A office, retail space, 335 units of rental apartments and 142 condominium units, according to the recently revised plan for the project. A hotel has been considered, but the developers will probably opt to build office space instead.
Land work for utilities and streets is underway and vertical construction is expected to begin in 2017.
Sueba USA, which has developed a number of apartment projects in Houston over the years, will own a stake in the Ivy District development. Sueba, led by John Chiang and Klaus Keller, also developed the multifamily above the retail in the nearby Pearland Town Center.
Other funding for the Ivy District project comes from foreign investors in the EB-5 immigration investment program, which allows foreign investors to obtain a U.S. visa if they invest sizable sums in America.
The Pearland site was once the location of the proposed WaterLights District, a proposed mixed-use development that featured oversized 20-foot busts of U.S. Presidents by sculptor David Adickes. Several of the sculptures were on the land before it was purchased by the Chinese group a few years ago.
Modern Land has established Houston as its headquarters for several U.S. affiliates, including American Modern Green Development and AMG Capital.
The newly formed AMG Capital will be led by President and CEO John S. Landrum, who began his career working with master developer Kenneth Schnitzer at Century Development in Houston. Landrum, a former chairman of the ULI District Council in Houston, was also president of Taylor Woodrow development and COO of The Related Group.
AMG Capital will focus on Class A urban multifamily projects in high-growth cities with backing from institutional investors and high net-worth individuals from the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong.
May 3, 2016
Realty News Report is a Texas-based publication edited by Ralph Bivins.