Chinese Developers Discover Miami with Purchase of $74.7M Site

China’s real estate investors finally discovered the southern US as an affiliate of a major Chinese construction company bought a development site in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood for $74.7 million late last month.

The unit of China City Construction Company, closed on the full block site located between 14th Street and 14th Terrace and South Miami Avenue and Southwest First Avenue on December 26th, becoming the first major Chinese investor to enter the Miami market.

While the majority of Chinese real estate acquisitions in the US to date have been in major gateway cities such as New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, many analysts have predicted that the deal wave would spread as asset values rise in the country’s largest cities.

A report in the Miami Herald said that China City Construction was represented in its Florida acquisition by American Datang Group, a privately held real estate company run by Dr. Shan-Jie Li. In an interview with the Herald, Dr Li said that China City had still not decided what to do with its new site, but was considering a mixed-use project including condominium, hotel and office elements.

China City purchased the undeveloped site from Teca Group Investments GP LLC, a partnership managed by Mexican national Elias Cababie Daniel.

Chinese Join Miami Boom

While Miami may be new to Chinese investors it has long been an international real estate draw, enjoying huge popularity with Latin American buyers and builders. And while there are parts of the US that have yet to fully rebound from the 2008 real estate crash, Miami is no longer among them.

According to Herald real estate columnist Peter Zalewski, “There are 17 towers and 5,300 units going up just in the 12-block stretch,” where China Construction’s site is located.

Hong Kong’s Swire Group, which is heavily involved in mainland real estate is developing a $1 billion mixed-use project just a few blocks north of China Construction’s new acquisition.