GARDEN GROVE : City Makes Strong Bid for Asian Investment

With a well-established Korean community, and a number of vacant properties ripe for development, city officials say they are well-positioned to take advantage of the boom in Pacific Rim trade.

In a bid to lure Asian investors to the city, Mayor Bruce A. Broadwater and Councilman Ho Chung will travel to South Korea next week with members of the Korean Chamber of Commerce.

“Every city is in the business of trying to attract development,” said Mike Fenderson, assistant city manager. “So if we’re going to try to attract a developer from Denver, why not try to attract a developer from Korea?”

The group will visit Garden Grove’s sister city, Anyang, from Sept. 9 to 16 to meet with Korean business leaders and public officials.

They will make their pitch through verbal presentations, a video about the city with narrative in Korean, and booklets explaining the sites available for development and the resources the city can offer investors.

Their pitch highlights three sites: the downtown area of Garden Grove Boulevard, the Harbor Boulevard corridor and Garden Grove Boulevard between Beach Boulevard and Brookhurst Street. It emphasizes the tourism potential of the city and its easy access to Disneyland.

“My greatest hope would be a major Korean hotel,” Broadwater said.

He and Chung will pay their own expenses, he said, while the Community Development Agency will pay Fenderson’s expenses, which Fenderson estimated at about $1,000.