Chinese, US companies jointly develop Los Angeles Arts District Center

LOS ANGELES - Leading Chinese and US construction companies on Tuesday jointly launched a project to develop the Arts District Center in downtown Los Angeles.

In partnership with China Building Techniques Group Co Ltd (CBTGC) and US architectural firm AC Martin, with its history of over 110 years, Arts District Development LLC (ADD) is planning a permanent new home.

Located in the heart of rapidly evolving arts district in downtown Los Angeles, the unique 12-story mixed-use development project will contain 129 artist condominiums, 113-room art hotel and 50,000-square-foot (4,646 square meters) commercial space for retails and restaurants.

The project offers 11 percent low income affordable units for artists to live and work. A public art plaza, a 10,200-square-foot (about 948 square meters) art gallery and event space plus a 3,300-square-feet (307 square meters) artist-collaborative space known as CoLab will accommodate a vast community of the city's creatives.

"It's a good opportunity to showcase that Chinese companies can work together with American companies to improve building technology tremendously," said Wang Wei, vice-president of China Building Techniques Group Co Ltd.

China Building Techniques Group Co Ltd is one of the largest companies in the construction industry in China.

"In term of new building technologies, experiences, green energy saving and so on, Chinese building companies are gaining the leading position on the market," he told Xinhua. "There are many opportunities in the United States as the country is ready to increase spending on infrastructure construction."

The project is expected to produce at least 2,100 direct or indirect employment opportunities.

"The project is another example for China-US economic cooperation with mutual benefits," said George Tao, CFO of ADD.

"We are really excited about this," said Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar, adding that their Chinese partners have helped a lot in developing downtown Los Angeles over the past five years.