Record Guangzhou deal landed by HK developer

HONG KONG developer Garry Investments has clinched the largest single real estate deal to date in Guangzhou, signing a joint-venture agreement to build China's largest overseas Chinese village covering 5.97 million square feet and reportedly worth three billion yuan (about HK$2.64 billion).

The development, called the Pearl River Overseas Chinese Village, is located at the eastern end of Guangzhou and will include about 400 villas, 4,000 apartments, shopping malls and trading centres, harbours, parks, public facilities and even a museum.

The joint venture was signed with Guangzhou Sanlian Overseas Chinese Real Estate Company Ltd. It was listed as a key municipal construction project by the city's People's Congress and is expected to take about eight years to complete.

The country's other overseas village, also located in Guangzhou, has about 200 villas covering about 1.35 million sq ft.

That village was constructed in the 1950s and was the major residential area in the city for returning overseas Chinese. However, it could no longer meet the housing needs of increasing numbers of overseas Chinese from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau, said the report.

Apart from overseas Chinese, the new village is designed to provide housing for foreign diplomats and businessmen.