SL Green Realty Corp's (NYSE: SLG) plan to revitalize the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens is off and running after garnering support from several major New York labor unions.

The $2 billion plan for the site includes a Hard Rock hotel and restaurant, a gaming floor, high-end shopping, an entertainment venue, a fitness center and a pool and spa, all adding up to more than $400 million in capital improvements.

Union support stems from the fact that project would create approximately 600 construction jobs and hundreds of other union jobs as the development evolves.

Among the unions supporting the project are the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council and two chapters of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local Union Nos. 30 and 94.

The project is awaiting action by the state legislature, which is deliberating which organization would run the casino and other particulars, but the potential for job creation has generated a tremendous amount of popular support for the project.

[global development] China's Economic Growth This summer ProLogis (NYSE: PLD) released a report on China's economic growth prospects, entitled "China's Special Economic Zones and National Industrial Parks—Door Openers to Economic Reform," outlining the impact of China's Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Economic Technological Development Zones (ETDZs). "Industrial REITs such as ProLogis benefit from the creation and expansion of SEZs and ETDZs inasmuch as they are gateways for direct foreign investment in China," says Leonard Sahling, first vice president of research for ProLogis. "In many ways, our success in attracting and retaining customers in the area is predicated upon the incentives offered at China's special zones. The country also offers a strategic regional location for distribution throughout Asia and is a key global hub because of its many seaports." The SEZs and ETDZs are part of an economic reform strategy from the late 1970s to encourage foreign investment in China. Sahling says that the company's interest in the SEZs and ETDs "began as first-hand observations of the market dynamics in China. The industrial parks were noted because they were unlike any others seen in other parts of the world. They ran and operated like small cities."