Rockefeller Group says part of its mammoth residential-office-retail-hotel development in Shanghai's historic Bund area will be ready for sale or lease by late 2007. William Tung, the group's Asia-Pacific managing director and chairman of Shanghai Bund de Rockefeller Group Development, which is overseeing the project, said: 'We will get possession of the site at least within the next year and should have part of it opened by late 2007.' The US$300 million first phase involves seven buildings with a floor area of more than one million square feet, which will include commercial and cultural facilities, serviced apartments and office space as well as public squares. It is Rockefeller's first property project in China. The company's partners include Shanghai New Huangpu Group and Hong Kong-listed Sinolink Worldwide Holdings. Mr Tung said the 120 residential units would be aimed at the domestic market rather than overseas buyers. 'We have already got lots of interest from domestic buyers,' he added. He declined to disclose the break-even point, but said the project's investment return rate was 30 per cent. 'We signed the agreement very early and the price was relatively low,' said Mr Tung of the company's memorandum of understanding with the Shanghai government, signed in early 2003 when the mainland was in the grip of the Sars outbreak. The signing came a year after the group decided to make a strategic move into China, prompted by the fact that the country had become a member of the World Trade Organisation, that Beijing had been selected to host the 2008 Olympic Games and that Shanghai had been chosen as the venue for the World Expo in 2010. Mr Tung said Rockefeller had been given a great opportunity by the Shanghai city government to revitalise the Bund district. 'We believe China is a market that can't be ignored,' he said. Besides the property development project in Shanghai, the company also has a real estate investment fund - Rockefeller Group-Sinolink Greater China fund. There are also property projects in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.