August 14, 2015

Chinese firm starts Bellevue project

Image courtesy of GGLO [enlarge]

Groundbreaking is Monday for the six-story apartment building. Construction on the condo tower won’t begin until 2016 or early 2017.

A Chinese firm called Create World America plans to start construction Monday on what it says will be the first project by a Chinese development firm in downtown Bellevue.

The project is called Mirador and the site is at 10230 N.E. 10th St. Two phases are planned: a six-story, 162-unit apartment building and an approximately 20-story, 110-unit condo tower.

Create World America is starting the apartments next week. The condos won't start until the end of next year or early 2017.

GGLO is the architect for the project, and Lease Crutcher Lewis and Chinn Construction are building it.

This is the company's first project in North America, said Eugene Hu, one of the project managers. One company principal has spent a lot of time in Vancouver, B.C., and is familiar with the western U.S. and Canada.

Create World America looked at numerous cities on the West Coast and decided to do its first U.S. project in the Puget Sound region. The attractions are: a highly educated population, good schools and successful home-grown companies, said Rod Leung, project manager for Create World America.

The site in downtown Bellevue appealed to Create World America because it is close to Bellevue Square and other landmarks, but a little quieter than other parts of downtown.

“You're still in a downtown area without feeling like you are in a downtown area,” Hu said.

Create World America brought in Daniels Real Estate as a partner for the project. Daniels is helping navigate the local construction and development market, which is very different from China's. Because of its high population, Chinese companies don't build a lot of mid-rise structures. Even small cities in China have more than 1 million people, Hu said, so projects have to be big.

Kevin Daniels said he originally wanted to team up with Create World America on a condo project he is doing next to CenturyLink Field call Gridiron. That project was too small for Create World America, but the company was looking for a local partner as it builds a West Coast team and portfolio. Leung said Daniels is a natural fit with what the firm wants to do.

Create World America has worked mostly on high rises in China, with 40 stories or more. One of its projects in China right now covers one square kilometer. The Bellevue site is about one acre, and Google estimates one acre is equal to .004 square kilometers.

Daniels said permitting takes a lot longer here. Often, Daniels said, a developer in China can buy land and within three or four months begin site work. Here that process can take 18 to 24 months.

“(In China) they will start the building before permits are in place, and that's just the norm,” Daniels said.

Daniels said he has also helped assemble the project team and gives marketing tips.

Create World America's Bellevue office has 10 employees, eight of whom are local.

Leung and Hu did not give the total project cost for both phases since the second phase is still being planned, but the apartments are expected to cost about $65 million.

About 80 percent of the funding is from foreign sources: foreign direct investment from Create World, equity investors and the federal EB-5 program. The rest will come from American banks.