Metropolis project nears end with another resi tower complete

Developer Greenland has been trying to sell 2 of 4 towers at the site

Metropolis photos with Greenland exec Hu Gang (Credit: Hunter Kerhart)
Metropolis photos with Greenland exec Hu Gang (Credit: Hunter Kerhart)

UPDATED, August 8, 1:35 p.m.:

Tower II of the sprawling Metropolis project is now officially open.

Greenland USA, the American arm of the Chinese developer Greenland Group, debuted the 40-story residential tower earlier this month. With 514 condos, the high-rise holds about a third of the overall project’s 1,500 residential units.

Tower II features a mix of studios, one and two-bedroom models. The residences range in size from 480 – 1,431 square feet, and can cost as much as $700,000 for one-bedrooms. On the ninth floor there’s an expansive amenity deck with a dog park and billiards room.

The Agency is brokering sales at the new development, which was designed by Gensler and Harley Ellis Devereaux. It celebrated its launch in late July with a “Midsummer Night’s Dream” party featuring a performance from the jazz band at the University of Southern California, aerial dancers and hand-crafted cocktails.

Metropolis has been on a long road since Greenland first bought the dirt at the South Park property four years ago for roughly $150 million.

Greenland completed the 308-unit Tower I in June 2017. It tapped Douglas Elliman, a New York veteran and relative newcomer to L.A., as the listing brokerage.

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In September, the Agency took over sales at the $1 billion project for reasons that remain undisclosed to the public. Experts wondered whether there was enough demand to satisfy the enormous number of residential units that have come online in the Downtown market, with much more yet to come.

Earlier this year, the Agency announced Tower I was 80 percent sold, and that the new development team would move on to selling condos at Tower II. Greenland tapped Lapchih Fan, an agent at LF8 Real Estate, to sell the remaining 60 or so units at Tower I.

Greenland has also been trying to unload two buildings at the four-building complex.

It put the 350-key Hotel Indigo, which opened April 2017, on sale in February for $280 million. At the time, sources speculated Greenland wanted to use proceeds from the sale of the Hotel Indigo to finance the rest of the project.

Things escalated further when weeks later news broke that Greenland was also shopping its unfinished Tower III, a 56-story, 736-unit skyscraper.

Greenland, in a statement sent to The Real Deal, said that Hotel Indigo and Tower III at Metropolis are “on track and meeting expectations.” The company added that it remains “open to exploring opportunities as the market dictates.”

Recently, Chinese officials have pushed back on overseas spending as a means to control capital outflows, leaving many real estate firms scrambling for financing for their ongoing projects in L.A. Unlike most other companies, Greenland is still heavily invested, with massive projects still underway in New York and L.A.