中国人投资美国中部小城托莱多之谜

    2011年3月，中国投资者斥资215万美元买下俄亥俄州托莱多市莫米河上的餐饮中心。很快他们又以380万美元购入位于码头区的69英亩新近净化过的土地，并承诺投资2亿美元用于新的商住开发。当年9月，在附近的一座桥对面，另一家中国公司又斥资300万美元，收购了一家可以俯瞰小联盟球场的老旅馆。

    这些收购活动只是中国投资者在美国中西部进一步扩大投资的跳板。最后出售的旅馆距底特律机场仅一小时车程，买家五湖全球集团（Five Lakes Global Group）在其网站上宣称，托莱多是直达克利夫兰、哥伦布、代顿、芝加哥和底特律的“五星级物流区”。

    托莱多人口28.7万，仅为俄亥俄州第四大城市，但是地理位置优越，处于两大重要高速公路：75号和80/90号州际公路的交汇处。市长麦克•贝尔告诉《托莱多刀锋报》（Toledo Blade）：“我的目标是将托莱多打造成真正的国际化都市”。

    贝尔是独立人士（指非民主党或共和党——编者注），他于2010年上任后多次造访中国，招徕投资者。他的中英文双语的欢迎辞还出现在五湖集团的中文网站上。五湖的中文名称其实是“大湖”全球，公司的网站还宣传，贝尔和俄亥俄州州长约翰•R.卡希克将于9月份参加在托莱多举行的区域投资论坛，并发表演说。

    虽然在国家经济层面上，大家关注的话题还是中国持有的美国国债，但美国许多地方政府则更多地着眼于能推动当地经济的交易。很多地方的市长和市政府官员已经去中国会见潜在的投资者，造访中美合资企业，贝尔只是其中之一。就在最近，爱荷华州州长特里•布兰斯塔德招待了到访的中国国家副主席习近平（公认的中国下一代领导人），并接受回访邀请。印第安那州副州长贝基•斯基尔曼本月已经率第二个贸易代表团访华。亚特兰大市长卡西姆•里德几周前也亲自带队访问中国。

    按照全国房地产经纪人协会（National Association of Realtors）的数据，中国公民在美国的房地产投资仅次于加拿大人。而根据全球经济研究公司Rhodium集团，在中国对美国的私人投资中，按照价值计算，酒店和房地产是仅次于信息科技的第二大行业。

    从2003年到2011年，总计有236项私人投资，总额达63亿美元，其中10项投资于酒店、房地产和娱乐业。

    近年来，不只是托莱多经历了中国投资的热潮。Rhodium集团收集的数据中大多数投资发生在东西海岸，中国到俄亥俄州的投资在2008年到2011年共计7项，而在2003年到2007年之间则是一片空白。

    中国的富豪们确实有必要分散投资。由于中国国内房地产泡沫的危险性和银行系统的不确定性，即使是远离大都市的美国房地产也对他们具有很大的吸引力。

    In March 2011, Chinese investors paid $2.15 million cash for a restaurant complex on the Maumee River in Toledo, Ohio. Soon they put down another $3.8 million on 69 acres of newly decontaminated land in the city's Marina District, promising to invest $200 million in a new residential-commercial development. That September, another Chinese firm spent $3 million for an aging hotel across a nearby bridge with a view of the minor league ballpark.

    The investors have framed their purchases as a gateway for further investment opportunities in the Midwest. The newly sold hotel is about an hour's drive from the Detroit airport, and on its website, the hotel's purchaser, Five Lakes Global Group, advertises Toledo as a "5-star logistics region" with access to Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Chicago, and Detroit.

    With a population of 287,000, Toledo is only the fourth largest city in Ohio, but it lies at the junction of two important highways -- I-75 and I-80/90. "My vision is to make Toledo a true international city," Toledo's Mayor Mike Bell told the Toledo Blade.

    Bell, an independent who took office in 2010, has made repeated visits to China to court investors. A welcome message from Bell, subtitled in Chinese, appears on Five Lakes' Chinese website. Five Lakes' Chinese name might be better translated as "Great Lakes" Global, and the company's website advertises a regional investment forum to take place in Toledo in September, with speeches by Bell and Ohio Governor John R. Kasich.

    While the national economic conversation on China is preoccupied with Chinese-held government debt, local governments have been working for deals that benefit local economies. Bell is not alone: many mayors and other local officials have traveled to China to meet with potential investors and visit joint ventures between U.S. and Chinese companies. Just recently, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad accepted an invitation to visit China after the state hosted visiting Chinese Vice President and presumptive next leader Xi Jinping. Indiana's Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman this month led her second trade mission to China. And Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed led his own team a few weeks ago.

    Chinese citizens are second only to Canadians in the number of real estate investments in the U.S., according to the National Association of Realtors. The Rhodium Group, a global economic research firm, ranks hospitality and real estate as the second-largest sector by value for private Chinese investment in the U.S., after information technology.

    From 2003 to 2011, Rhodium counted 236 private investment deals worth a total of $6.3 billion. Of those, 10 fell under hospitality, real estate, and entertainment.

    Toledo is not alone in experiencing an influx of overall Chinese investment in recent years. While most deals in Rhodium's data took place on the coasts, seven China-Ohio deals were recorded from 2008 to 2011, compared with none from 2003 to 2007.

    China's super-rich have good reason to diversify their holdings. In China the possibility of a real estate bubble and uncertainty about the banking system can make U.S. real estate, even away from the metropolis, an appealing bet.