DongDu International's Nova Scotia developments slow to take shape

A Chinese company that has attracted a lot of attention for its plans to build two large housing estates in Guysborough County, N.S., has not yet begun construction.

DongDu International owns 130 hectares in the Marie Joseph area, and another 1,200 hectares in the Indian Harbour Lake area.

Based in Shanghai, DDI is an investment group involved in real estate. According to the company's website, it targets the top 10 per cent of China's growing middle class with a mission to be "the pioneer, provider and leader of international lifestyle of the middle class."

The company's slogan is "dream living, live dreams," and its real estate focuses on "extravagance."

In a promotional video about the Guysborough estates, DDI CEO Marvin Hilan Li says the company wants to build a "beautiful resort to attract young Chinese."

'Right the first time'

Michael Mosher, warden of the Municipality of the District of St. Mary's, says the municipality is behind the project and even though no construction work has started yet, he isn't concerned.

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Mosher says from his experience working with DDI, they're the kind of company that "wants to do it right the first time."

He says DDI must make sure they launch and market the project when the economy is in "the proper position to do that."

Waiting for the economy to pick up gives DDI the time needed to plan and design, and the municipality time to rezone and change bylaws, he says.

He says DDI's plan is to build hundreds of houses on the Marie Joseph site, and roughly 1,000 houses on the Indian Harbour Lake site.

"When the date finally comes to launch the project, all our ducks are in a row and this would be a tremendous success for both DDI and the municipality. This will be a wonderful thing," said Mosher.

According to the Greater Halifax Partnership, the homes at the Indian Harbour Lake site would range in price from $1 million to $1.5 million.

Other DDI properties in Nova Scotia

On top of the Guysborough properties and the Pacfic Building on Barrington Street, DDI also lists another property called Bayside on its website, but it does not give any details.

The company's North American vice-president and regional general manager, Ken Creighton, would not disclose the plans for this property to CBC News.

In May 2014, officials from DDI visited Halifax to meet with members of the business community.

At that time, both Nova Scotia Business Inc. and the Greater Halifax Partnership signed memorandums of understanding with DDI. The company posted a news release on its website noting it signed an MOU "for building a new city."

Also at that time, the company unveiled an animated video, which showcased many of DDI's Nova Scotia plans. These include film-themed tourism and theme parks based on iconic cities from around the world.

According to the video, DDI also envisions Nova Scotia as a film production centre and would dock two cruise ships in the Halifax harbour, each of which would have close to 1,000 rooms specifically designed for film crews.

Crystal City

The video also describes DDI's vision to build and develop office buildings, research centres, a new coastal fishermen's wharf and something called "Crystal City."

Crystal City is a place where people would work, live and play, says Stephen Dempsey, a former DDI vice-president who now serves as an advisor to DDI Canada.

"It's quite common in China to take an undeveloped piece of land and attract businesses to come in and establish themselves there, provide residences for the people who would work there and then provide the amenities so it becomes a cohesive community," he said.

Dempsey says the video was intended to open up a dialogue to explore what might be possible in Nova Scotia.

Nova Scotia and China trade missions

Premier Stephen McNeil and a seven-member delegation from Nova Scotia visited South Korea and China on a trade mission in the fall of 2014. According to the Department of Intergovernmental Affairs, the trip included visits to six cities and 30 meetings with governmental and business officials.

As part of this trip, McNeil visited DDI's elite Shanghai Town and Country Community club.

Peter Wood, the CEO of DDI Leisure and International Operation, wrote about the visit in a company newsletter.

"Elected in October of last year, Mr. McNeil cuts a distinctive figure, and at a height of 1.96 metres, he is affectionately nicknamed 'The Giant Governor,'" said the note.

According to DDI's website McNeil was prepared an "exquisite lunch banquet" and given an honourary membership. The 2014 trip cost taxpayers $75,000, according to Nova Scotia's Department of Intergovernmental Affairs.

MOUs will expire next month

Both MOUs signed between NSBI and DDI, and The Greater Halifax Partnership and DDI, expire next month. NSBI president and CEO Laurel Broten says the agency "remains engaged with the company."

In November 2015, Broten, along with a four-member delegation, visited DDI as part of a 12-day mission to Japan, South Korea and China. The DDI portion of the visit lasted three hours and included a dinner in Shanghai.

Broten says NSBI has not provided any business development incentives or funding to support the company's Nova Scotia plans.

Meanwhile, DDI's Ken Creighton says the company is continuing to work on its development plans for its Nova Scotia holdings and seek investment opportunities in Halifax and across Canada.

'Far-fetched' plans

But Jill Grant, a professor of planning at Dalhousie University, calls DDI's plans for Nova Scotia "far-fetched."

"The scope of what's proposed along the Eastern Shore seems very large and um, out of scale with some of the kind of successful developments that we've seen in the past, so it raises some flags about how likely it is to go ahead," said Grant.

She also wonders what impact the developments would have on housing prices in the area if they were to go forward.

Grant also finds the company's promotional video, shown to members of Nova Scotia's business community during a 2014 visit, to be strange.

"When I watched it, it seemed like the kind of thing that maybe you'd get a group of teenagers at a summer camp who were doing something around film production to crystal ball what might happen in Nova Scotia in the future and come up with some innovative ideas, but didn't strike me as very practical," she said.

Grant says many Chinese real estate companies want to diversify their holdings and they are buying relatively low-cost properties.

She also points out that Nova Scotia might be a favourable place for Chinese companies to invest because the province does not have any restrictions on foreign land ownership.