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 as 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 2017, Landsea Group won "2017 Best 10 of Innovation Ability of China Real Estate Developers" award by 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, Ho said.

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 is the 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.

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com