Chinese firm Kuafu plans condo tower at NYC's Upper East Side

New York

KUAFU Properties LLC, a New York-based Chinese investment firm formed two years ago, plans to build a condominium tower at the Upper East Side site that once housed the Subway Inn dive bar.

The company signed a contract to buy the property on East 60th Street, near Lexington Avenue, from World Wide Group, chief executive officer Shang Dai said. Kuafu intends to demolish the buildings at the site and add about 60,000 square feet (5,570 square metres) of retail space in its ground-up project, he said.

The deal is the fourth in Manhattan for the company, whose name means "beyond wealth" in Chinese. This month, Kuafu agreed to buy One MiMA Tower, a luxury rental property on West 42nd Street that it plans to convert to condos. Chinese investment in New York real estate has surged in the past two years, …