Chinese banks have poured more than $ 1 billion in loans in New York last year. Investors from China are snapping up luxury apartments and planning to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in commercial and residential projects like Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn. Chinese companies have signed major leases at the Empire State Building and at 1 World Trade Center, which is the centerpiece of the rebuilding at Ground Zero.
Related
Repairs to the bridge by a related company in Beijing (August 11, 2011)
Log in with NYT Metro
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook as we news and conversation.
Enlarge this image
Jennifer S. Altman for The New York Times
Xue Ya, President of the Centre of China, is involved in the business and cultural exchanges. "New York," she says, "is the starting point of globalization."
Reader Comments
Readers shared their thoughts on this article.
Read all comments (120) »
The investment in the city by the businesses and entrepreneurs in China has been soaring in recent years, recalling the Japanese investment boom that swept the region in the 1980s and helping to support the local economy even as the country as a whole is struggling to emerge from recession.
Chinese investments occur without fanfare, in part because Chinese executives tend to shun publicity. But at home, asking their government to invest overseas to diversify China's foreign exchange holdings, develop business partnerships and improve the country's lever in international affairs.
Dan Fasulo, managing director of Real Capital Analytics, which tracks sales of commercial property, was painted in its records the other day for deals in New York City that involved Chinese investments. As the list grew longer and longer, he paused, a tone of surprise in his voice. "It's really amazing how they were able to do so without being highlighted in public," he said.
Delegations of Chinese officials and executives have been sweeping through the city on a near weekly market assessment, research offices and meet potential partners and customers. Last month, officials and leaders of China and the United States filled a ballroom at the Waldorf-Astoria to do business during a business conference.
"Everyone wants to come to New York because New York is the starting point for going global," said Xue Ya, President of Central China, a commercial and cultural organization that was the first tenant to sign a lease 1 World Trade Center, where it will occupy six floors. Once established in New York, Ms. Xue said, "you're a player."
Even one of the fastest in the area of construction companies is Chinese growth. The company, China Construction America, has won contracts on major public works projects, including the Tappan Zee and Alexander Hamilton Bridges, the No. 7 line extension metro station and 91 million Metro -North Railroad at Yankee Stadium.
China Construction is a subsidiary of a construction company controlled by the state in China. The wave of Japanese investment in the city a generation ago - epitomized by the purchase of a majority stake in Rockefeller Center Realty Corporation Mitsubishi Tokyo in 1989 - stirred anxiety and even xenophobia. Some New Yorkers have seen evidence that the city and the country lost their dominant position.
This time, city officials are welcoming Chinese investment as a boon to the local economy. But in a report in May, the Asia Society and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars warned that on the national level, protectionist impulses and anti-Chinese sentiment, especially in Washington, could scare away investors.
Rinse with a capital of its huge trade surpluses, China has been a frenzy of investment, particularly in developing countries. Although the size of Chinese investment in the United States is nothing compared to the investments made by other countries, it has nevertheless grown rapidly.
"In terms of overall flow from China to the United States, many of us think this could accelerate very quickly, and it might even parallel what Japanese investment made in the mid-80s," said Clarence Kwan, Senior Partner at Deloitte, an IT services company.
The Chinese government is deeply interested in diversifying its foreign exchange reserves beyond the Treasury of the United States. A sign of this is the push by the Chinese state-owned banks to invest their money in commercial real estate in New York.
In one of the largest loans by a single lender in the city since 2008, the Bank of China lent $ 800 million last year to refinance a building on Park Avenue housing JPMorgan Chase and Major League Baseball, say analysts. Among other offerings, the Bank of China recently agreed to pay more than $ 250 million to refinance an office tower of 3 Columbus Circle.
Analysts and U.S. officials and Chinese, said it was difficult to calculate the exact size of Chinese investment in New York, or even the number of transactions with Chinese involvement, due to the complexity of international trade agreements and privacy laws. But experts say the current level of interest was only a hint of what might happen.
Cong Zhong, president of the Society Kingee cultural development, a conglomerate based in Beijing that China decoration products, said he planned a foot in North America with a retail flagship store on Fifth Avenue. "If we leave New York," said Mr. Zhong in a telephone interview from Beijing, "it will be easier to extend."
Ning Yuan, chairman of China Construction America, said he had not faced anti-Chinese sentiment. The company, based in Jersey City, uses unionized workers on its projects in the city.
"So far so good," said Yuan. "Our company has a lot of experience over the last 20 to 30 years in China. Economy of China is booming, and many construction projects have been carried out by our company. This is good for the local market we can bring our expertise. "
The Chinese money is also about to flow into the city through a federal program that offers the possibility of permanent residence to foreigners who invest at least $ 500,000 in some development projects.
Under this program, known as EB-5, Forest City Ratner Companies has arranged for $ 249 million in loans from Chinese investors for residential towers and offices in Atlantic Yards, the commercial project and residential Brooklyn that includes a new stadium for the New Jersey Nets. Developers hospital and hotel project in Flushing, Queens, lined $ 30 million in financing from China, turning dozens of other interested investors, said Richard Xia, president of the firm raise the necessary funds.
China Tourism is booming in New York as well, helping to sustain the sector hotel, restaurant and retail. In 2010, 266,000 Chinese visited the city, an increase of 45 percent over 2009, according to NYC & Company, the city's tourism arm.
Upmarket estate agents do their best to accommodate the influx.
Pamela Liebman, president of the Corcoran Group, said that his company had sent a "huge" increase in demand for rich Chinese looking for luxury residential properties, "some in the $ 30 million-plus wide."
"We went from zero to 200 miles per hour in six months," she said. "This year is the biggest buzz word in real estate:" Chinese. "
Xiaolan Shang, an agent with Prudential Douglas Elliman, said that five years ago, she had very little international customers. Now, about 90 percent of its customers are Chinese - and many pay in cash.
"I've had people come to New York just for the weekend," said Ms. Shang. "They see the apartment they offer and they immediately fly to China."
No comments:
Post a Comment