'AsiaTown' project in the works near Green Run area

VIRGINIA BEACH

An Asian-theme development is planned near the Green Run area: AsiaTown, an office and retail center with a nail salon, a Korean bakery, a yoga studio and a Filipino spa, and which could be built with help from foreign investors.

The $14 million project is to be built at the intersection of Holland Road and Warwick Drive, with 32,000 square feet of retail space and a 40,000-square-foot, four-story office building.

Kathy Owens, who heads Beach Development Group, said she hopes to break ground when financing comes through in the next two months and anticipates a fall completion date. Public funding will not be used. Owens said she is 90 percent sure the project will be built.

"AsiaTown will happen," she said. "We're a shovel-ready project."

Owens has applied for a designation from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency that would allow foreigners to invest in the project. The Immigrant Investor Program, also known as EB-5, allows foreigners to get green cards for themselves and their families after investing either $500,000 or $1 million in a new commercial enterprise.

The program was started by Congress in 1990 to stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investments by foreign investors, according to the Citizenship and Immigration Services website. Applicants must show their project will benefit a geographic region, and are required to create or preserve at least 10 full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers, generally within two years of the investor's admission to the United States as a conditional permanent resident.

The project will need what's known as a "regional center" designation, and Owens

said the region covered under the AsiaTown application would include all of Hampton Roads, the Richmond metropolitan area, and Currituck County, N.C.

"It's a great opportunity for foreigners to come to the United States," Owens said. "Their money is helping to fund a project that needs help funding."

Owens served as a pilot in the Navy for eight years, and she served 13 years in the Naval Reserve.

She's been a developer for about six years and her projects have included commercial and residential properties. Owens developed the property that houses her office, Kates Corner at Town Center, on Euclid Road. AsiaTown would be her most ambitious project.

Dan Cosgrove, a spokesman with the Citizenship and Immigration Services agency, said there are about 200 regional center designations nationwide under the EB-5 program. The centers have pumped about $2.1 billion and 41,940 jobs into the U.S. economy, he said.

There are no such centers specifically designated for Hampton Roads. Two Washington, D.C., centers extend into Northern Virginia, according to the Citizenship and Immigration Services website.

Some Virginia Beach neighbors aren't so happy about the prospect of AsiaTown.

Lyn Henry, acting vice president of the Scarborough Square Civic League, said she doesn't think the economy can support AsiaTown right now. She also said city officials didn't notify nearby residents about the planned development.

"I don't understand building something new if these other strip malls are struggling," Henry said. "It saddens me to think our government is going out of the country to find people to work when we have people here who've lost jobs and cars and need work."

Owens said the foreign investors are required to live in the United States but are not required to live in Virginia Beach.

AsiaTown is projected to create more than 350 jobs by its third year, and the tenants will be local business owners, she said.

"It won't take away jobs from people here," Owens said. "It's purely using foreign capital to fund U.S. projects and hire U.S. workers and help the U.S. economy."

Owens said she's still looking for foreign investors. She went to an investment seminar in Mexico last month and is getting inquiries from countries such as India, China, the Philippines and South Korea.

AsiaTown won't require City Council action because of its General Business zoning, Owens said. She said the project would sit on 10.5 acres of land owned by Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters.

"The foreign investor wins, the economy wins," Owens said. "This is no cost to the taxpayer; everyone wins."

Luk Deesee owns the Thai Pan Restaurant on Holland Road and said about 80 percent of her clientele are Asians. She thinks AsiaTown could help her business by generating customer traffic.

"I don't think it will take away from my business, because my customers are devoted," Deesee said. "It would be good advertising for us."

Virginia Beach has the largest population of people of Asian descent in South Hampton Roads, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. The city is home to 26,312 people of Asian ethnicities, representing about 6 percent of the population. Norfolk counted 7,861.

Dr. Juan Montero, founding president of the Asian Association of Hampton Roads, said Virginia Beach's strong Asian appeal goes back to a heavy U.S. Navy presence in the Philippines years ago. Many Filipinos immigrated here after enlisting in the U.S. Navy.

In addition, having the Oceanfront and other beaches nearby reminded some Filipinos of the waters back home, Montero added.

AAHR members pitched the AsiaTown idea at an organization meeting last year, Montero said. Owens liked the concept.

The original idea was suggested as a Chinatown, he said, but AAHR members wanted to be more inclusive with other Asian cultures, such as Indians and Russians.

Montero, a native of the Philippines and a retired surgeon, said AsiaTown can work.

"The culture will be there," Montero said. "It's a big way to preserve our heritage."

Jennifer Jiggetts, 757-222-5150, jennifer.jiggetts@pilotonline.com