Des Moines Wins Hotel Over Tacoma Thanks to Sister City Relationship
We read from the Business Examiner that the city of Des Moines recently landed a $45 million hotel project that could have ended up in Tacoma.
According to the BE, the Chinese financed hotel ended up in Des Moines thanks to a relationship-building trip taken by a council member from the Washington city to its Chinese sister city.
The Des Moines city council member met with the owner of the hotel he was staying in, and things evolved from there. The BE calls it a “random meeting,” but this is exactly the kind of opportunity sister city relationships are designed to facilitate.
Tacoma has 12 sister cities; what possibilities are out there?
Filed under: City Projects, Elsewhere, Sister Cities, Convention Center Hotel
3 comments
K Ken November 14, 2012
Investors, regardless of nationality, primarily base their decisions on where they can make a profit (and/or in this case whether they can move up the immigration line).
The article says they also expect to build on their Tacoma property, and that the primary reason for building first in Des Moines was proximity to SeaTac for Chinese visitors.
While relationships are obviously a factor, let’s not get too excited about taxpayer-funded trips to 12 sister cities.
T tom waits November 14, 2012
“It will be nestled in the City of Des Moines, a quaint, water-side city…”
I’ve never thought of Des Moines in that way. They make it sound like Port Townsend or Coupeville.
J Jesse November 14, 2012
Does Des Moines have a B&O tax?