Mayor Sheckler Invited to Return to China For Emerging Industries Summit

By Ralph Nichols

Mayor Bob Sheckler will return to China late this summer – invitation in hand – for the 1st World Emerging Industries Summit 2010.

Sheckler, who said his invitation is “quite an honor,” hopes to interest investors there “in any type of development that would complement the city, either on the highway or downtown.

“This has to be a two-way street. We can’t just take and not give,” he added. “They are looking for good opportunities for investments in Des Moines that will give them a good return for their dollar. Their interest is in profitable investments.

“I look forward to the exchanges I will have with my hosts, and to reporting back to our city when I return.”

Sheckler said Chinese investors like the Des Moines area because they can’t get its views of Puget Sound anywhere else “without paying premium dollars for them. And the marina is a huge attraction to them.

The proposed site north of 216th Street for the Des Moines Creek Business Park

“We’re squared away to bring in investments on Pacific Highway and to downtown now that the water issue is taken care of – and to Des Moines Creek Business Park,” he continued.

Sheckler was invited as the result of personal contacts he made with government leaders and business investors during his China trip last year.

He went there in November to build foundations for a sister-city relationship with Changle and an exchange program between Chinese community college students and Highline Community College.

But Sheckler came home with a lot more – an agreement for a multi-million-dollar hotel in Des Moines in addition to those relationships.

In addition to the hotel, with more than 300 rooms, this development – at the old state vehicle emissions testing site along Pacific Highway S. north of Kent-Des Moines Road – will feature a four- or five-star Chinese restaurant and, possibly, retail space.

“It will be a true Chinese restaurant,” Sheckler noted. “Not a Chinese-American restaurant.”

The project is currently in the planning and design stage. Groundbreaking for construction is expected sometime next spring, perhaps sooner.

Matt Chan of Normandy Park, who is planning the multi-phase Waterview Crossing development on Pacific Ridge, accompanied Sheckler on his China trip last year and introduced him to business investors there.

Sponsored by the Chinese government, the Aug. 31-Sept. 3 summit – “New Industrial Revolution & Green Economy” – will include business talks on investment and cooperation, information and technology exchanges, and promotion of international economic cooperation in emerging industries.

Mayor Bob Sheckler during his previous visit to China in 2009

International political leaders, ministers and elected representatives of federal, state and provincial, and local governments, leaders of Fortune 500 companies and other industry-leading companies, representatives from industry and related international organizations, and top economists have been invited.

The invitation came from Wang Rulin, governor, Jilin Province of China, Dominique de Villepin, global chairman of the Asia-Pacific CEO Association Worldwide, and Zheng Xiongwei, global executive chairman of the association.

“As Des Moines continues to reach across the Pacific to Chinese investors who are interested in the potential for them in Des Moines,” Sheckler declared, “I feel confident that the majority of city council members will embrace these opportunities for future economic development.”