The project, located in the CBD, will be run by the company and partners

BEIJING - CapitaLand Ltd, one of Southeast Asia's largest property developers, and its partners have agreed to buy a development site in Chongqing in western China, for 6.54 billion yuan ($1.02 billion).

Pedestrians at the entrance of the Minhang Plaza shopping center, developed by CapitaMalls Asia Ltd, a unit of CapitaLand Ltd, in Shanghai. CapitaLand and its partners will spend 21.1 billion yuan ($3.3 billion) on what it hopes will become one of the most prominent projects in China.[Photo/Bloomberg]

Designed by architect Moshe Safdie, the planned development, which will have a total gross floor area of 817,000 square meters, will include a shopping mall and eight towers for residential, office and hotel use, according to the company's statement on Tuesday.

A "sky deck" will connect four of the towers, similar to the Marina Bay Sands casino resort in Singapore, which was also designed by Safdie.

CapitaLand and CapitaMalls Asia Ltd, its retail property unit, will each own 25 percent of the project, while Singbridge Holdings Pte, a unit of the Singaporean government-owned investor Temasek Holdings and other partners will hold the remainder, according to the statement.

Located in Chongqing's CBD, the project is expected to cost a total of 21.1 billion yuan, the statement said. It will be CapitaLand's third shopping mall in the city, adding to its 40 retail properties in China, and another 16 that are under construction.

The deal comes in the wake of moves by other foreign property developers to increase their land banks during a period of market correction.

In September, the Hong Kong-based Hang Lung Properties Ltd spent 3.497 billion yuan on a land parcel in Kunming, Yunnan province.

Last month, Shui On Land Ltd, also based in Hong Kong, bought a mixed-use development site in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, at a cost of 3.198 billion yuan.

In a recent report, Macquarie Capital, part of the Macquarie Group, said that 2012 will present perfect opportunities for property developers to increase their land banks, because of the ongoing market correction.

According to Richard van den Berg, Greater China country manager at CBRE Global Investors, the price of land in China is expected to fall 30 percent on average.

"The market correction in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai will last a bit longer than in second- and third-tier cities," said Van den Berg.

However, domestic property developers, facing increasingly tightened cash flow, have slowed their efforts to boost land parcels.

In October, the nation's four leading listed property developers only purchased two land parcels, compared with 19 during the same period last year.

"Considering the potential risks in the residential market, most foreign property developers prefer land parcels for mixed-use development," said Qin Xiaomei, chief researcher at the international real estate service provider, Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.