Former City of Toledo Deputy Mayor Dean Monske says the new Chinese developers of the Marina District are sponsoring local Fourth of July fireworks displays.

Sounds logical — history tell us the Chinese invented fireworks. In addition, the Chinese firm Dashing Pacific Group already owns The Docks restaurant complex.

“That kind of makes sense because it’s kind of their backyard,” Monske, who is now with the Regional Growth Partnership, said. “The Docks are right where they do the fireworks, and it just kind of shows community support and being that it’s Fourth of July — what a great time for them to sponsor part of that so it worked out well.”

It all started with a second trip to China by Mayor Mike Bell, who traveled with a coalition of local government, business, and media.

“It was fantastic. It was great — every bit as productive as the first one,” Monske said. “It worked out well.

“It was a benefit to everybody when it was all said and done to actually have the media there. It had a huge effect. Everyone got a good flavor for everything that was going on. It certainly made everything a lot easier. They were really good and followed the set protocol we had and they got a lot more access than we originally thought they would have. They did a nice job in letting people know what was going on.”

Monske, the former director of the Oregon Economic Development Foundation, believes the Marina District development is only the tip of the iceberg.

“This Marina District will be an international village. We are doing more than just working with investors in China,” Monske said.

“The goal for RGP (Regional Growth Partnership), we opened two offices while we were there, and so far it’s been because of our contacts that today we are so heavily focused on China. But we had a trip to Dubai about a month-and-a-half ago, and we were in the UAE (United Arab Emirates), and we plan on not only for the long term goal, but for the medium term goal, is to work with quite a few countries around the world. China just happens to be the focus we have right now. There will be other deals as the summer goes on with other deals we are working on.

“I do know we’re having a lot of success in a short period of time. Dashing Pacific is specifically two individuals, one group of literally over a dozen now that we’re actually dealing with on a lot more things than just real estate.

“We have specific companies, we’ve got pharmaceutical companies, we’ve got manufacturing companies, and we’ve got all kinds of things that we’re working on, and there will be a couple more announcements to be made this summer — probably about every 30 days here we are going to have another announcement to be talking about. We’re excited.”

Monske cannot say for sure whether or not this is the first time a city of Toledo’s size has done this type of mixed use development with Chinese investors.

“There have certainly been business deals, billions of dollars in investments with China, but I really don’t know,” Monske said.

He does believe that if Toledo did not approve allowing the Chinese to develop the city, another city would have and says this community would be holding its hands in the air wondering what happened.

Monske is not surprised, however, that within a month after city council voted unanimously to approve selling 69 acres for $3.8 million to the Chinese developers, the real estate transfer was closed. He predicted it the day after the vote.

“They don’t need to be here for (the closing). For The Docks, I don’t think it was even 30 days — whatever it takes them to get the paperwork together,” Monske said. “Just like they did with The Docks, before council even voted, 10 percent of the purchase price was already here with Louisville Title in escrow, so it was no different with this one. The money was there so it’s just getting the paperwork in and getting everything taken care of.”

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