Lendlease has long been an active developer in Australia as well as in London, Malaysia and Singapore. Now the company is “putting our Americas business on the same footing,” says Melissa Burch, executive general manager, development, for New York.

Through its Lendlease Development Inc. unit, Burch’s efforts will help fill the pipeline of projects that Esposito works on at Lendlease LMB Inc.

Burch says Lendlease is looking at an integrated model that includes building on its our own account as well as for third parties, and will develop projects across a wide spectrum, from condos and multifamily buildings to office and retail buildings.

One benefit of that integrated approach is that it offers much closer coordination of project planning in the preconstruction stage to expedite work, says Burch. The firm also can use its own balance sheet. Burch says Lendlease has $16 billion of funds under management.

Lendlease’s development efforts in the U.S. are focused on identifying projects in underutilized areas of gateway cities. Burch’s compatriots are developing projects in Boston and Chicago. The company also is looking at projects in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

In Manhattan, Lendlease’s first development project, a joint effort with Victor Group, is 281 Fifth Ave.—a 700-ft tower that will have 140 condos on top of a retail podium. The site, in the Madison Square Park retail area, is the home of a burgeoning tech industry and a hip neighborhood that is becoming a restaurant and food destination, Burch says. And, as with many of Lendlease’s other projects, “It will leave a mark on the skyline,” she says.