In the News

June 17, 2016

A wave of big Asian developments comes to the Puget Sound area

Marc Stiles

It was about four years ago that Asian investors, mostly from China, began buying large commercial development sites in the Puget Sound region. Now they're either under way on construction or gearing up to start.

Over the last month, talk of overseas investors' interest in the Seattle area has been growing in volume and velocity. What's striking is the buyers' desire to not just buy investment property, but build it. This is fueled by a desire to establish development platforms in the United States, said Skip Whitney, an executive with Kidder Mathews' China Services division. The condo developers, meanwhile, think they'll sell many homes to Chinese nationals.

Against this activity, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Washington State began operations this month. the chamber is located in Bellevue in the offices of Chinese company Create World, which has emerged as the most active of the overseas developers.

Here are some of the developers' projects.

Project: Elev8
Overview: Four office, hotel and residential towers
Location: 10855 N.E. Eighth St.
Developer: China-based Plus Investment USA
Timeline: Construction start this fall for the condo and apartment towers

Project: Seattle condo tower
Overview: 40 stories with TBD number of units
Location: Downtown at Second Avenue and Stewart Street
Developer: China-based Create World America
Timeline: April construction start

Project: Seattle apartment tower
Overview: 26 stories, 242 units
Location: South Lake Union at 427 Ninth Ave. N.
Developer: Create World America
Timeline: October construction start

Project: Mirador
Overview: Six-story apartment building with 162 units; 17- story condo with 120 residences
Location: Downtown Bellevue at 10230 N.E. 10th St.
Developer: Create World America
Timeline: Apartments are under construction; condo construction starting in 2017

Project: Urban Green Villa, Seattle
Overview: 12-story apartment tower with 132 residences
Location: Belltown on Third Avenue at Battery Street
Developer: Taiwan-based Chainqui Development
Timeline: Construction starting in October

For the full story, go to Puget Sound Business Journal.

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