Chinese Cultural Park To Be Built

Interesting... Not sue what is happening in  other parts of Puerto Rico but the Chinese have been buying up some of the colonial buildings in Ponce. We have had an influx of chinese airbnb guests too. I have seen them shopping in Sams as well. I asked my friend who works for the Historic center and she was not sure why they are buying the buildings but thought it may because of the port.  Wherever they set up camp it will be a boon for the Island.

A cultural Chinese center and park celebrating China towns / region is sort of weird given that there are so few of them (1-2%) unless the plan a major inmigration.

I think they intend it to be for touristic purposes only, for non Chinese tourists mainly.  Something different to see and do on the Island.

CA GUY wrote:

I think they intend it to be for touristic purposes only, for non Chinese tourists mainly.

Very probably wrong.
Ben Carson warned of "Chinese infiltrating the Caribbean" some while ago.
He used the words in a very negative way but he was right about them trying to gain serious footholds in the area.

You guys might not have even noticed the Yingke Caribbean China Center open last year or maybe just missed its importance to the country, but that firm opening its door along with a cultural centre and the first China-Puerto Rico Investment Forum a couple of months ago, watch out for potentially good business opportunities in PR over the next couple of years.

China is coming and China always works on trade - Could be very good news for a lot of people.

Mark,

That is very interesting. I have heard reports of China buying up properties (old news, right?) in the US which in turn has many people worried about rising housing costs in areas like LA and NY. It never occurred to me that might be the case here.

Is the municipality/government selling the buildings in Ponce for next to nothing or are these mostly private sales? I know in Arecibo (this was a couple of years ago, I am not sure what they are offering now) they were offering some for free as long as you paid for the renovations. We are talking about long neglected buildings though where renovations costs would be a serious investment.

I think it is private sellers. I do not know of the government selling any buildings in Ponce. My friend who works in the government division of code enforcement in the historic section of Ponce gave me this information. She also told me of a mutual friend who grows organic turmeric was also approached by the Chinese with a low ball offer to buy here farm.

I see, thanks, was curious. My husband and I were talking about the subject and he agreed with your friend that it's due to the new Port. Apparently it has been all over the news for awhile. Well hopefully everyone's property goes up in value after that is completed. It will be interesting to see how many changes it brings about. In Arecibo we are already seeing a lot of new businesses/changes near the Columbus statue and it's only about half way done. Hopefully that can bring Arecibo back from extinction, every time we have gone to the plaza it has gotten more and more depressing.