American Sinopan eyes more projects up north

A fence that bears the image of the planned hotel development of American Sinopan LLC in Tanapag has been set up as the Hong Kong-based company prepares the construction project. (Jon Perez)

American Sinopan LLC is looking at helping develop the northern part of Saipan, starting with the Saipan Garden Resort hotel in Tanapag—a project that the company’s chief executive officer, Ken Lin, calls the “Gateway to the North.”

Lin said the Saipan Garden Resort is just one of several projects that their company plans to develop in the northern part of the island. “Tanapag is what we call the ‘Gateway to the North’ and we’re looking at this as the future of development,” he said last week.

“The future development of the hotel will be along the north and this is really the gateway. I’m a developer and, after we finish this [Saipan Garden Resort] project, we’re going to look at a different one,” Lin told Saipan Tribune.

American Sinopan is a subsidiary of First Sinopan International Ltd. that is based in Hong Kong. First Sinopan was incorporated on April 29, 2016, and is also publicly listed in the Hong Kong Stocks Exchange.

He said their projects could be the first hotel project using private land. “We believe this is the first hotel that will be built on a private land. Most of the hotels are on public lands or tied to public lands. [For us] everything is private [land].”

“When we walked around the island, we fell in love with the place. We saw something different and we saw its potential. The whole idea of why we came here is the opportunity of tourism. This is our first overseas project of our company and we take this project very seriously,” added Lin.

The hotel, to be located across the Tanapag Middle School, is only one of their planned projects. “Saipan is a beautiful place. We will be searching different places around this island. [The first] one is to place our big hotel.”

“There are other plans. We also have a project on Capital Hill, which is the former Heaven II Resort and we want to change it to Capital Hill Resort,” said Lin, who added that they are taking their development projects one at a time.

Hiring locally is also a top priority and they held a job fair last Saturday and will hold one again on June 9 at the Tanapag Social Hall in front of the Santa Remedios Parish Church in Tanapag.

“What’s very important for a developer is the hiring of local people. This is how you help them become a self-sustaining community,” said Lin.

He added that they are not keen in doing a groundbreaking ceremony. “We wanted to have a ceremony after the project is done and the hotel opens. We want to have the respectable elders of the community and to highlight the culture.”