china Jones, Jr.: Back to Shanghai?

Sometime this year, the real estate affiliate of a powerful Chinese multinational hopes to start building an 18-hole golf course on an island along the Yangtze River in Shanghai.

The course has been designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr., one of his profession’s elder statesmen and a familiar face in Chinese golfing circles. It’ll be the centerpiece of Shanghai Dongtan Jin Mao Noble Manor, a 290-acre community taking shape on Chongming Island, China’s second-largest island (after Hainan Island).

Franshion Properties (China), Ltd., a publicly traded, Hong Kong-based firm, describes Jin Mao Noble Manor as “a high-end, low-density residential project.” At build-out, it’s expected to include various forms of housing and some hotels, including an “apartment hotel.”

These days Franshion Properties is working on several development ventures in Shanghai’s central business district, including the Shanghai International Shipping Service Center and Shanghai Port, which it calls an “international passenger transport center.” The company has developed the Chemsunny World Trade Center in Beijing, and it owns several hotels (3,000 total rooms) in Shanghai, in metropolitan Beijing, and on Hainan Island, operated by such brands as Ritz-Carlton, Hilton, Westin, Grand Hyatt, and Marriott.

Franshion Properties is controlled by Sinochem Group, a state-owned entity that’s among the world’s largest multinationals -– number 203 in last year’s Global Fortune 500.

The course will be Jones’ seventh in the People’s Republic. The Palo Alto, California-based architect’s previous work includes Yalong Bay Golf Club on Hainan Island, Spring City Golf & Lake Resort in Kunming (Yunnan Province), and Enhance Anting Golf Club in Shanghai.

Some material in this post originally appeared in the November 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.