Construction and development giant Lend Lease is readying to expand its US presence and enter the market as a master developer, with the group now reviewing urban regeneration projects across the country.
The details of its increased US presence will be revealed today as part of the company’s wider investor update.
Lend Lease already has a considerable footprint in the US as the main contractor behind the demolition of buildings damaged in the 2001 World Trade Centre attack; it is a leading commercial property builder and builds military housing for the government.
This month Lend Lease appointed US property professional and former Clayco executive Tom Weeks to head up its Chicago office and the group is already bidding on a development project in the Windy City.
Mr Weeks has indicated that the company is about to sign a contract on the development.
Chicago is understood to be an anchor point for the company rolling out development projects across the American Midwest. Lend Lease has declined to comment. The Australian understands that the company’s push as a developer in the US is still in its early stages. Lend Lease International chief executive Dan Labbad and Lend Lease USA chief Denis Hickey will head up the push, which ultimately will be overseen by company CEO Steve McCann.
Sources said Lend Lease delving further into the US would give Australian investors exposure to a high growth market and the opportunity to diversify away from Australian commercial property.
While Lend Lease has a patchy history in the US that has led to some high-profile court cases over some of the practices of its building arm Bovis Lend Lease, the company has had considerable success in Britain on urban renewal projects, including Elephant & Castle. It has also been developing the sweeping Barangaroo development in Sydney and the equally large Victoria Harbour project in the Melbourne Docklands, as well as the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre in Darling Harbour.
The group’s infrastructure business, which recently picked up the $5.3 billion contract to build the East-West Link in Melbourne, could also use the US business to launch bids for projects.