By Peter Finch
It's no secret wealthy Chinese have been pouring money into
the U.S. lately. Chinese companies invested $14 billion in businesses here last
year alone, double 2012's level, according to a report by New York's Rhodium
Group.
Real estate is of special interest, and because many golf
courses qualify as "distressed" real estate, don't be surprised if more of them
wind up in Chinese hands.
A pair of investors from China have recently bought
properties in that most American of golf destinations, Myrtle Beach. Alan
Blondin of the Myrtle Beach Sun News reports on the latest: developer Shengwen
Lan's purchase of Crown Park Golf Club (pictured), which went for $1.5 million and the
assumption of some leases that value the total deal at around $2 million.
It appears Lan got his first taste of Myrtle Beach at last
year's World Amateur Handicap Championship, when he was among a group of
several Chinese players that participated. Sporting a 9 handicap, he posted
gross scores of 98, 91, 93 and 89.
The Crown Park deal follows last summer's purchase of the
Sea Trail Golf Resort, bought by a Chinese businessman known as "Mr. Pan." It
sold for $8.5 million. All three Sea Trail courses are on our list of the 60
best in Myrtle Beach.
Quasi-related story: The New York Times reported last year
on a Chinese investor's strange plan to build a golf resort in ... Iceland.
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