Bringing Soho to China

New development promises live/work lofts in Shenyang, China

The Diamond Hill development in Shenyang, China
The Diamond Hill development in Shenyang, China

The lust for New York City loft living knows no bounds. Now a new development is bringing a taste of Soho to Shenyang, a large industrial city of about 8 million in northeast China.

Designed by a California architectural firm, the 390 unit “SoHo lofts” — or SOHO, all caps, in the marketing materials — are live/work units hoping to draw China’s young entrepreneurs, according to the New York Times.

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“What would be an enormous project in the States barely raises an eyebrow in China,” Joel Rothstein, a partner in the real estate group at the law firm Paul Hastings, who splits his time between Los Angeles and Beijing, told the Times. “You walk through these real estate fairs and everywhere you look, there are models of enormous condominium tower after enormous condominium tower for sale.” [NYT]Christopher Cameron