It seems that every day there is a new article about direct foreign investment in the United States — particularly Chinese or other Asian investment. A Merchants Bank study estimates that rich Chinese — those with assets of more than 10 million yuan (US$1.6 million) — have about 3.6 trillion yuan (US$565 billion) invested overseas. Although only a small portion of this is invested in the United States, there is a swelling wave of Asian capital focused on the United States by family office and institutional investors. A major portion of this capital is focused on the West and East coasts of the United States, particularly San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City and other international gateway cities.

Asian capital is particularly interested in real estate investments, with a heavy emphasis on hotels and hotel-related properties. In fact, Asian investors represented 8 percent of the U.S. hotel transactions in 2010, and were on track to be buyers in at le