Lendlease Promotes SF Exec to Lead Projects in the Americas

Australian developer Lendlease has appointed a San Francisco-based executive to head its development in North and South America.

The Sydney-based global construction firm has promoted Meg Spriggs to be managing director of development for the Americas, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

Spriggs had led the firm’s Google partnership for various Bay Area developments since 2021. She’ll assume her new role on Oct. 1, reporting to Claire Johnston, Lendlease CEO for the Americas.

She will oversee a $21 billion development pipeline, which includes projects in New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and the Bay Area.

Spriggs, who has 22 years in real estate development, has worked at Catellus Urban Development, AvalonBay Communities and Shorenstein Realty Services, in addition to Lendlease, according to her LinkedIn page.

As executive vice president in charge of residential development in the firm’s partnership with Google Development Ventures, Spriggs worked to develop the 80-acre Downtown West transit village in San Jose and its 153-acre North Bayshore urban retail village in Mountain View.

In 2019, Google also announced that it would spend $1 billion to build up to 20,000 new homes in the Bay Area, with a special focus on affordable housing, according to the Business Times.

This year, however, the Google partnership with Lendlease stalled when the tech giant stopped work on its 4,000-unit Downtown West project near Diridon Station.

In February, LendLease, the lead developer for a project to house 25,000 Google workers, laid off 67 employees, including several community engagement managers related to its construction, according to CNBC. As part of Google’s downsizing this year, the company gutted its development team for Downtown West.

Last weekend, Ruth Porat, chief investment officer of Google parent Alphabet, said the company is committed to the project’s completion, but gave no timeline for restarting construction.

— Dana Bartholomew