GRA Property Named a "2024 Benchmark Long-Stay Apartment Project"

Zhian Light Living Apartment Hotel | Yayuncun in Beijing, co-invested by GROW Investment Group and its strategic partner Lefull Group, has officially opened. Its design and operations have won recognition from industry experts: at the 2024 Beijing Housing Rental Enterprise Development Forum, the project received the "2024 Benchmark Long-Stay Apartment Project" award presented by CRIC.

The judges noted that by creating an apartment product inside a popular creative park, GROW and Lefull showed a distinctive perspective on product positioning. With a sharp aesthetic sense, every inch of the project has been crafted into a work of art - a model of contemporary living that combines design, comfort, community culture and technology-enabled service, and a template for mid-to-high-end rental products.

CRIC is a leading digital services platform for the real estate sector. Its Beijing team conducted a study of "Benchmark Housing Rental Enterprises and Projects in Beijing" based on regional market and corporate data. Following company and project research, data submission and verification, expert review and report writing, it released the "2024 Beijing Long-Stay Apartment Operators TOP 10 by Comprehensive Strength", "2024 Beijing Benchmark Long-Stay Apartment Operators" and "2024 Beijing Benchmark Long-Stay Apartment Projects".

Ni Wentao, founding partner and CEO of GROW Investment Group, thanked the organisers:

More and more cities are moving from an era of new supply into an era of existing stock, and revitalising existing assets calls for new solutions. Through the industry shake-out of recent years, rental housing has shown a distinctive vitality and attracted a wave of new entrants. GROW has invested in rental housing projects in Beijing and Shanghai in succession and succeeded in a fiercely competitive market. We will continue to focus on urban renewal and deliver better returns for our investors.

A model for revitalising urban assets

This is the latest move in GROW Investment Group's real estate portfolio. Following the successful investment in and operation of GROW Suisse Place Apartment Hotel in Xujiahui, Shanghai, and Zhian Hotel (Jianwai SOHO) in Beijing, GROW and Lefull have jointly invested in Zhian Light Living Apartment Hotel in Beijing.

The project follows a "lease - add value through renovation - operate" strategy: a standalone building in Beijing's Chaoyang District, within the Yuejie Jinhuiyuan park owned by Jinhe Group, was leased at a competitive rent, then renovated and operationally empowered through the professional capabilities of both partners, creating 78 boutique serviced apartments for the mid-to-high-end rental market of the Asian Games Village business district.

Located on Xiaoguan Beili Street in Chaoyang District, the project sits in the Asia-Olympic business district, a location that connects east to west and north to south with excellent transport links. It is next to Huixinxijie Nankou station on Metro Lines 5 and 10 - Beijing's central business axis - three stops from the Asia-Olympic retail area, eight from Wangfujing and nine from Chang'an Avenue and Jianguomen. Within a three-kilometre radius there was a clear gap in quality apartment supply, with almost no comparable mid-to-high-end competitors, making the product genuinely scarce.

Uncompromising product focus - the right project at the right time

Since the rental apartment market took off, competition on overall product strength - from spatial planning to service innovation - has been a priority for every brand. The debut of Zhian Light Living | Yayuncun reflects both partners' insistence on product excellence.

From the outset the team researched local consumption patterns and rental preferences. The project borders Zhongguancun, "China's Silicon Valley", to the west and overlooks the Wangjing business district to the east; the metro is a few hundred metres away and dozens of bus routes run nearby. Businesses cluster around it, and its residents are typically well educated, trend-aware, social and demanding of quality of life.

Why does an asset manager like GROW invest in real estate, and what value does it add to the global portfolios of high-net-worth clients? Ni Wentao gave two answers:

First, from a global asset allocation perspective, we remain positive on Chinese real estate and long-stay rental housing. Second, real estate remains an allocation that many high-net-worth clients care deeply about, and it plays an important role in a healthy portfolio.

GROW's real estate investment team is made up of seasoned industry experts and investment professionals with an average of more than ten years' experience. Together they have managed more than RMB 30 billion across fund-of-funds equity vehicles, direct development investments and operating real estate funds, and have won numerous awards.

Ni Wentao concluded:

GROW's real estate strategy covers distressed asset investment and urban renewal, and we have completed the investment and exit of multiple projects. From 2015, as industry trends shifted, we moved towards income-producing assets and towards urban renewal projects in the core districts of core cities - the second half of real estate's development.