Temasek-owned Mapletree Investments will invest three billion yuan (S$585 million) to develop a business park in China's Guangdong province.

This is an area under development in the Nanhai district in Foshan city and a 15-minute drive from Guangdong's provincial capital,
Guangzhou.

The project will cover a gross floor area of over 500,000 square metres (sqm). It will comprise 23 office buildings from nine to 21 storeys high, with a total of 5,600 parking spaces. The total land area is 260,000 sqm.

Mapletree group CEO Hiew Yoon Khong said in a statement yesterday that the project will benchmark itself to Singapore's Grade A office features.

It will aim to attract companies looking to set up regional headquartes or large back-office operations, companies in information and technology, research and development, and finance with "innovative business space design, eco-friendly features and state-of-the-art amenities", he said.

Construction is expected to be completed by 2017. The project was tentatively named Mapletree Innovation City then. It is Mapletree's second integrated development in Foshan after Nanhai Business City, a mixed-use development. Mapletree's second construction.

As at March 31, 2012, Mapletree owns and manages $19.9 billion of office, logistics, industrial, residential, retail, and lifestyle properties. 

Source: AmFraser