There is an island in Cambodia that, unlike others in Southeast Asia,
is not the object of an ownership dispute. But it is equally clear whom its
current owners would like to land there: Chinese property buyers.
If all goes according to plan, Koh Pich — Diamond Island in English — a
100-hectare, or about 250-acre, spit of land hugging downtown Phnom Penh’s
shoreline, will be home to more than 1,000 condominiums, hundreds of villas,
two international schools, a replica of the Arc de Triomphe, a near-clone of
Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands Hotel and one of the world’s tallest buildings.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, is coming into its own as a regional
business destination, and investment in its property market totaled $1.9
billion in the first half of 2013, compared with $1.2 billion in 2011.
After Cambodia passed a law in 2010 allowing foreigners to buy
condominiums in towers above the first floor of approved buildings, developers
in Phnom Penh have begun catering to growing foreign demand. A report in March
by the Phnom Penh office of the property consultancy CBRE noted that 20
condominium projects had been completed or were under construction in the city.
The island’s largest such project is the $700 million Diamond Island
Riviera: three 33-story condominium towers supporting a 650-foot infinity-edge
pool, a shopping mall, hospital, an international school, two pedestrian
shopping streets — plus two additional 29-story condominium towers. In a nod to
Chinese superstition, which considers the number four unlucky, the buildings
will not have 4th, 14th, 24th or 34th floors.
Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/07/realestate/commercial/giant-development-in-cambodia-hinges-on-chinese-buyers.html?_r=2
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