Dalian Wanda, owned by one of China’s richest men, Wang Jianlin, and Chinese partner Ridong Group are on the hunt for more Australian projects with Wanda searching for a flagship Melbourne site and Ridong purchasing three more parcels of land on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
Wanda and Ridong yesterday launched display suites to showcase their $1 billion Jewel triple tower apartment and hotel project on the Gold Coast, which will house Wanda’s first five-star Vista-branded hotel outside of China.
Wanda’s Beijing-based international sales and marketing director, Michael Purefoy, on the Gold Coast for the launch, said work on the 512-apartment curved crystalline towers would be “equity-led”, starting ahead of the first-stage sales campaign in September.
The construction contract had been tendered with an Australian “tier-one” builder expected. However, a Chinese or Asian contractor could join a construction consortium, Mr Purefoy noted.
Wanda, whose assets total $86.2bn, has six overseas hotel and apartment projects in cities including London, Madrid, Chicago and Los Angeles.
In Sydney, Wanda expects to begin the demolition of its Gold Fields House office building at Circular Quay late next year with a long-term plan for about 180 luxury apartments in a tower of about 50 storeys.
Mr Purefoy said prices for Jewel, which sits on an 11,000sq m Surfers Paradise beachfront site, had not been finalised. He declined to comment on likely pricing for units at Gold Fields House, which is expected to be Sydney’s most expensive apartment tower rivalling the apartments planned for James Packer’s Sydney Crown casino project, where the penthouse has been tipped to hit $100 million.
“Whatever the competition, the location alone makes it a unique offering,” Mr Purefoy said.
All Wanda’s international projects would combine hotels and apartments, with Jewel the first to be finished in 2018, opening ahead of the Commonwealth Games, Mr Purefoy said.
“Our aim is to create leading hotel and residential projects in all major global cities,” he said.
“We are keen on a suitable opportunity in Melbourne, but it is a challenge to find a five-star hotel and residential site.”
Wanda and Ridong are jointly developing two Gold Coast projects and would look at partnering again on a project-by-project basis.
Ridong director Baron Li said the family company, headed by Mr Li’s father Riyu Li, was bullish about the future of the Gold Coast as a tourist destination and would pursue other opportunities in the region.
Ridong bought the Jewel site in 2010, its first acquisition in Australia, with Wanda later joining as a partner. A second Gold Coast project on 50ha at Nerang is in the planning stages by the companies, Mr Li said.
Separately, Ridong has bought three development sites at Tallebudgera on the Gold Coast, but Mr Li would not be drawn further on the latest acquisition.
This article was first published by The Australian and is reproduced here with permission.