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The CEO of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce has a worry that many civic leaders in smaller and less prosperous areas would like to share: development is plunging ahead at breakneck speeds.

“There’s been so much commercial development in Miami and Dade County, that’s one reason why we made the top 20 list for Amazon,” Alfred Sanchez tells Globe.St. com.

He was referring to Miami earlier this year being named in the final 20 cities for Amazon’s new second headquarters in North America, what they’ve dubbed HQ2. The online giant started out with more than 320 locations and whittled it down dramatically.

“What I really worry about is that development is happening so quickly with such a large volume of stuff that’s going to happen that we get ahead of planned development,” Sanchez says.

Traffic is Growing Issue

One particular concern: congested traffic.

“That’s our number one issue, so that when you live here, you’re not stuck in traffic all day long in the downtown area,” Sanchez says.

He cites promising new commercial developments moving the area forward such as the Chinatown project in North Miami. It was recently in the news as requests were made for proposals from architectural firms.

The Chinatown Cultural Arts & Innovation District is to be comprised of 16 blocks of commercially zoned land along Northwest Seventh Avenue between 119th and 135th streets. The area is to be complete with parks, green space, bike lanes and rooftop gardens, along with pagodas, canals and an entrance inspired by the Ming Dynasty.

Many Major Projects Planned

Another promising project he mentioned: Developer Moishe Mana recently secured a $20.13 million construction loan to build Mana Wynwood Americas-Asia Trade Center & International Financial Center. Mana plans to build a center which will feature 10 million SF of commercial space as a trade hub to encourage and facilitate trade between China, Asia, Latin America, North America and the Caribbean. The project will be built in multiple phases with phase 1 including the development of 8.5 acres of Wynwood with 4.68 million SF of Class A office space, showrooms, retail, hotels and other development.

As for infrastructure keeping up with development, Sanchez cites work by the New World Center committee originally formed by the chamber in 1976. Their goal is to “have a catalytic influence on downtown projects in respect of the public and private sectors.”

An area the chamber is looking at as a priority is traffic.

“You need a master plan and the chamber plays a big part in it. We’re trying to develop transit solutions,” Sanchez says.

 

Source: GlobeSt.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday that China and the United States could work together to address cyber crimes, a problem that has sparked mutual tension.

In this Nov. 12, 2014, file photo, President Barack Obama toasts with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a lunch banquet in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. There could be some awkward undercurrents when the Chinese president is honored with a state dinner at the White House on Friday. The Obama's will honor a guest whose country has been accused of cyberspying, trampling on human rights and engaging in assertive military tactics. Greg Baker, File-Pool AP Photo

In this Nov. 12, 2014, file photo, President Barack Obama toasts with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a lunch banquet in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. There could be some awkward undercurrents when the Chinese president is honored with a state dinner at the White House on Friday. The Obama’s will honor a guest whose country has been accused of cyberspying, trampling on human rights and engaging in assertive military tactics. Greg Baker, File-Pool AP Photo

Xi’s statement came shortly after leaders from both countries signed an agreement to advance renewable energy and clean technologies to combat climate change. Xi, in a speech in Seattle at the end of the first day of his official visit to this country, also said China would continue its policy of aggressive development to help more Chinese people “live a better life.”

Striking agreements to ensure continued robust international trade was a top priority, he said. “China will never close its open door to the outside world,” Xi said, according to a translation of his remarks. He said China was a staunch defender of cyber security, but it had also been a victim of hacking.

Acknowledging that China and the United States don’t always see eye to eye, Xi said China is ready to set up a joint effort with the United States to fight cyber crimes. The issue of cyber attacks is a sensitive one between the two nations. American officials say hacking attacks originating from China are approaching epidemic levels.

As Xi spoke Tuesday evening, protesters gathered near the downtown hotel he was staying at, objecting to things like the country’s policies in Tibet and other issues.

Earlier Tuesday, meetings with governors from five U.S. states and local Chinese officials produced the deal to work on clean energy. “We can be the core for our national leaders to learn from,” Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who has made five trips to China in five years, told his counterparts.

Xi arrived in Seattle for talks on how U.S. and Chinese experts and businesses can collaborate on issues such as nuclear energy and smarter electricity use. The visit comes a year after Xi and Obama announced their nations would cooperate to fight climate change.

“These are the largest economies in the world, and we’re the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, so improving cooperation and collaboration is really a necessity,” said Brian Young, Washington state director of economic development for the clean technology sector. “Second, it’s a huge business opportunity. Both sides recognize the opportunity for job creation.”

The governors who met with Xi included Snyder, Jay Inslee of Washington, Jerry Brown of California, Terry Branstad of Iowa and Kate Brown of Oregon. All five — along with Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, who did not attend the meeting — signed the accord in which they agreed take actions to reduce transportation emissions, support clean energy technologies and exchange ideas.

Chinese leaders at the meeting included Beijing Mayor Wang Anshun, Shandong Gov. Guo Shuqing and others.

U.S.-China cooperation on climate-change has been a warm and fuzzy point of relations between the superpowers.

In November 2009, Obama and then-President Hu Jintao formalized a renewable energy partnership, including the establishment of clean-energy research centers focused on electric vehicles, cleaner coal and water energy programs.

Last November, Obama and Xi announced that the countries would work together on climate change, with China announcing it would try to cap its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, or sooner if possible.

By contrast, hacking attacks on the U.S., said to be directed by Beijing; China’s moves to assert its territorial claims in the South China Sea; and human rights issues have been sore spots.

Xi’s visit to the U.S. includes a state dinner on Friday with President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. The trip comes at a time when China’s economic growth has slowed considerably as the communist nation overhauls its economy.

Some clean-tech firms in Washington state, which relies largely on hydropower and where natural gas is currently cheap, may find markets and investment in China sooner than they might domestically.

Also on Tuesday, TerraPower Inc., an energy company founded by Bill Gates, entered into an agreement with China National Nuclear Corp. to work together on next-generation technology for nuclear power plants.

China invested a record $83 billion in renewable energy last year, according to the Frankfurt School’s Center for Climate and Sustainable Energy Finance in Germany.

Supporters turned out in Seattle to welcome the Chinese president and other dignitaries traveling in his motorcade.

Wendy Hu, a native of Guangdong Province who has lived in Seattle for 20 years, brought her 11-year-old daughter, Anna Ni. “China and the U.S. are good partners now, with Boeing and Microsoft,” Hu said. “I love both countries.”

Hundreds of protesters from the religious group Falun Gong also demonstrated, holding banners and banging drums as the motorcade passed. Falun Gong says its members are persecuted in China. “It’s about compassion and tolerance,” said Sabrina Chang, 28, who traveled to Seattle with other Falun Gong practitioners for the protest.

 

Source: Miami Herald

Miami billionaire Jorge Perez says an end to a U.S. economic embargo on Cuba could help turn Havana into a mecca for real estate investment.

Jorge Perez oversees a global condo empire with $20 billion in assets as chairman of Related Group

Jorge Perez oversees a global condo empire with $20 billion in assets as chairman of Related Group

Perez, who was born in Argentina to Cuban parents, oversees a global condo empire with $20 billion in assets as chairman of Related Group.

The U.S. Agriculture Coalition for Cuba, with more than 25 companies and farm trade associations, was created yesterday in Washington to urge repeal of a 1996 law that placed permanent sanctions on Cuba after Fidel Castro seized power in a communist revolution.

In an interview at his Miami office, Perez said he favors a lifting of the embargo even after Cuban exile groups organized protests in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood last month to oppose President Barack Obama’s easing of restrictions in place for more than 50 years. “We should’ve opened our eyes a long time ago,” the 65- year-old said. “Opening up trade and the exchange of ideas would further the democratization of Cuba. Demand for second homes will be much bigger than the Bahamas, Puerto Rico or Dominican Republic.”

Obama’s move to end a half century-long estrangement with Cuba raises the prospect that American developers and hotel operators such as Marriott International Inc. and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. may be able to enter the tourism-rich market only 90 miles (145 kilometers) from Florida’s coast. They face a long road of navigating a region with unclear property laws and government control, making it probable they will proceed with caution, Perez said.

Joint Ventures

Tourist arrivals to Cuba rose almost 12 percent year-over- year in October to 187,311 visitors, according to the Cuban National Statistics Office. About 2.9 million tourists visited the island in 2013, almost a third of them from Canada. The second-most visited Caribbean country behind the Dominican Republic, Cuba has about 200 hotels with at least 35,000 hotel rooms, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.’s hotel group.

Perez said he visited the island two years ago, taking a charter flight after he wasn’t able to obtain a U.S. permit to fly his private plane. If an opening occurs, Perez said he’d be interested in creating joint ventures with Cuban companies to help cultivate an entrepreneurial class, teach people how to operate in a free market economy, and encourage them to keep income from the projects in Cuba to help the country grow. He’s also interested in getting involved in the restoration of historic Havana.

‘Condo King’

Perez crashed with the rest of real estate market in 2008. He regained his crown as Florida’s “Condo King” by building new projects with 50 percent deposits from foreign buyers. The Miami Art Museum was recast as the Perez Art Museum Miami before its opening last year after he pledged $35 million in cash and art.

Inside his office, Perez has a coffee mug stamped with Bill Clinton’s name and a photo of him standing next to Obama. Most of the campaign donations Perez and Related Group made in 2012 and 2014 elections went to campaigns of Democratic party members, according to OpenSecrets.org.

Obama last month used the limited flexibility allowed by the law to ease travel, trade and finance with Cuba. Still, the economic embargo, in place since the early 1960s, needs congressional action to remove the restraints. “I don’t think that Raul Castro is going to wake up tomorrow and call free, general elections,” he said. “The lifting of the embargo is going to be a fight, though not impossible. A lot of the farm states are clamoring to lift this thing so we can sell products to Cuba. You’re going to get a lot of economic pressure.”

 

Source: Financial Advisor Magazine