A new hotel and meeting room space is planned at Southport, near Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park, adding potentially 2,300 jobs in Renton.

The project is the Hotel at Southport and it breaks ground on Oct. 1. It’s a 350-room, 12-story hotel on the edge of Lake Washington being developed through the Seattle Family Regional Center.

The center is also an approved Targeted Employment Area (TEA), which allows foreign nationals to invest within the U.S., starting at $500,000 and get a green card.

Renton city officials are  excited about the project.

“As a four-star, full-service facility, The Hotel at Southport will be a great amenity for Renton and will also be a big economic driver for the area economy,” said Cliff Long, Renton economic development administrator via email. “There are projected to be 2,300 temporary construction and ongoing new jobs created by the project. In addition, the large new convention facility will attract many more out of state visitors to our community who will also shop at our local stores and dine at Renton restaurants. This new investment could pay dividends to our economy for many years to come.”

The Seattle Family Regional Center has its sights set on more than just Renton, too.

“The Seattle Family Regional Center is focused on the first project on Lake Washington at this time, but the TEA applies to Pierce, King and Snohomish County,” said Michael Christ, president of SECO Development, Inc. via email.

SECO, the developer, has hired Mulvanny G2, as the architect, and Sellen, as the general contractor, for the project. His wife Min,runs the Seattle Family Regional Center and is originally from China.

“It is interesting, many of the EB-5 investors are interested in residency in Seattle, as it is the second most popular destination for Chinese immigration after California,” said Christ of the special immigrant investor visa.

He describes the investors as “bullish” about Renton due to its proximity to Seattle, Bellevue and SeaTac Airport, although he says they probably will consider other locations within the area to invest as well.

“The Seattle Family Regional Center is very selective about projects, as they take time to get permitted and built, and the location and product needs to be strong enough to succeed in the event the economy worsens during the development cycle in which they are built,” Christ said.

The center has had inquiries from investors from Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia, which is almost exclusively the focus of Min’s marketing. The investors can live anywhere in the U.S., but the jobs generated out of their investment will be in the local area or TEA.

A ceremony will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Oct. 1 on the future site of the Hotel at Southport at 1083 Lake Washington Blvd.