Sports Shop Finds Goalposts Moved

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Mizuno booted from China city after government tears up lease
Major sports gear manufacturer Mizuno Corp...was ordered Thursday to close its retail store in Shenyang, China...The 2,000-square-meter store, which was the biggest sports equipment store in the country, opened in August 2004 and recorded sales of about 150 million yen in the first year. Mizuno had agreed to rent the land until 2010. However, the Shenyang government sold the land to a Hong Kong-based developer that plans to construct a shopping mall on the site, forcing Mizuno out...As compensation, the firm received about half the money it spent renovating the building when the store opened.

[Socratesabroad]

the Shenyang government... leases the land to the store

This isn't that uncommon.

As I vaguely recall, England had a system where you rented land for XX years but the Crown, or gov't, actually owned the land. I have no idea if that system's still around, but it's rampant here in China.

My older friend, for instance, owns several apartments in her apt building (for her dad and her family). But she doesn't (she can't) actually own the plot of land. So if the gov't moves in and rezones the area, she and the other tenants are SOL. Basically the cheap bureaucratic bastards will give her the original amount she paid for the residence - so much for interest or property values.

At least Mizuno can take solace in the fact that they're not getting shafted any more than the locals.