Landsea leads in green real estate

Property developer builds efficient high-tech homes for US customers

From kitchen appliances that reduce energy waste, water-saving fixtures and high-efficiency heating and cooling systems to tankless water heaters that put hot water on demand, Landsea Holdings Corp is building sustainable and energy-efficient homes for US consumers.

“Landsea is a leader of green technology in real estate. We take an innovative approach to make sure we build sustainable and healthy homes for consumers, which has been part of the success in China,” said John Ho, CEO of Landsea Holdings, a US subsidiary of the Nanjing-based Landsea Group Co.

Founded in 2001, Landsea Group has made green-tech real estate its differentiation development strategy. So far, the company has developed more than 80 green-tech real estate projects and won 25 Green Three Star Logos, the equivalent to the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold standard.

In March, Landsea Group won the “2017 Best 10 of Innovation Ability of China Real Estate Developers” award by the China Real Estate Association and China Real Estate Appraisal under E-house China R&D Institute.

“In California, the building code and environmental code are very strict — much stricter than in China. We take that philosophy and know-how to build homes in the US; it actually matches very nicely,” said Ho.

The Irvine, California-based company has five single-family home or townhouse projects in California and two condo projects in Boston and New Jersey.

The projects on the East Coast will be LEED certified, and the homes in California will be built to the Title 24 code, almost the LEED gold standard equivalent, according to Ho.

Landsea has seen green-building technology as its core competence that differentiates it from traditional developers. A main difference between the US subsidiary and other Chinese property developers in the US market is its focus on building homes for local consumers, not for international home buyers.

“We build for the US consumers. We choose locations that we believe are good residential communities,” said Ho. School districts, good proximity to transportation, retail and community amenities that make lifestyle convenient are among the key factors, he added.

Landsea’s current projects under construction in Northern California include a 109-townhouse community in Dublin, which is expected to be completed in November 2017; 30 attached triplex units in Walnut Creek, which are selling at an average price of $1 million, and 450 townhouses in Sunnyvale, with an average price of $1.1 million.

Two other projects in Southern California include 211 townhouses in Simi Valley, for which plans have been approved by the city, and 313 single family homes and 233 townhouses in Lake Forest, where land development is in process.

On the East Coast, “Pierce Boston” — a 30-story mixeduse tower with 109 condos, 240 apartments and 14,500 square feet of retail — is under construction. Avora, an 11-story condo building with 184 units on the Weehawken waterfront in New Jersey, was topped out in May.

Landsea’s majority of business in the US is building homes, while condo and mixed-use projects are driven by demographics and market, said Ho.

In the metropolitan areas of Boston and New York, it’s hard to get land, but it’s different in California, where people, including young families, choose to live in homes or townhouses, he said.

“California is more supportive of a single-family home, which I believe the US consumers still want to buy at the end of the day,” said Ho.