Federal Way will spend up to $50,000 to put on a marketing event in Seoul early next month to persuade South Korean investors and developers to invest in the city’s downtown.
The city believes it has several drawing cards, including two proposed skyscraper projects and its designation as a regional center with the federal immigrant investor program.
That program ultimately grants foreign investors permanent legal resident, or green card, status in exchange for putting at least $1 million into local development or businesses.
The city will sponsor a marketing event for the first time as part of its biennial sister city trip.
On tap: food, a video about Federal Way and remarks from city leaders at a conference center or hotel.
The April 2 event – still to be arranged by a firm in Korea that the city will hire – is intended to draw new development and businesses to downtown Federal Way, said Patrick Doherty, the city’s economic development director.
Doherty called the event a “unique opportunity” to market investment in Federal Way.
“The event makes eminent sense,” he said.
The City Council agreed Tuesday night, voting 6-0 to approve spending up to $50,000 from the city center redevelopment fund. That’s on top of $10,000 already budgeted for this year’s sister city trip – the price tag for the city’s five-member team, including airfare and lodging.
The city representatives going to Korea are Doherty, Mayor Linda Kochmar, City Council member Mike Park, City Manager/Police Chief Brian J. Wilson and Community Development Services Director Greg Fewins.
A number of local businesspeople will also go and pay their own way.
The total delegation could top more than a dozen people.
The trip will be March 29-April 4. The delegation will arrive in Seoul, then visit the port city of Donghae, which is Federal Way’s sister city. Then the group will return to Seoul for the marketing event.
Koreans are looking to invest outside of Korea, Doherty said. The timing is right for outside investors because the U.S. economy is down, he said.
Park said he suggested the marketing event to help get developers to build downtown.
“During an economic downtown, I think this is the perfect time to plan for the future,” said Park, who’s a native of Korea.
Federal Way has a natural link to that country with its sizable Korean American population. The city also has several selling points to pitch to investors.
It is spending $320,000 for a program to turn concepts for innovative medical devices into investor-funded businesses in Federal Way.
Two large downtown development projects also are planned.
Developers of a 45-story condo tower downtown are hoping to take advantage of Federal Way’s recent designation by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service as a “regional center” to attract Korean investors.
Six other Washington cities – including Tacoma and Lakewood – have been accepted into the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, which requires each investor to generate at least 10 jobs in a city.
Another skyscraper project, called Symphony, is up against a deadline. Lander Korus, the project’s new developer, has ties to Korean investors. He must pay $4 million by the end of this month as its initial payment for 4 acres of city-owned property at 31600 20th Ave. S.
Steve Maynard: 253-597-8647
steve.maynard@thenewstribune.com
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