WASHINGTON, DC-The Persian Gulf country of Qatar, which is a major backer of the City Center project here, has been investing heavily in the US economy and is looking at real estate markets in major cities for new projects to finance.

Qatar's real estate investment arm in 2010 injected $650 million into the City Center development thus becoming the majority owner of the $1-billion project in Northwest Washington. Last week, the first nine tenants moved into City Center apartments and office occupancy is expected to begin next spring, according to the Washington Post.

Of late, Qatar bought Current TV for $500 million and launched Al Jazeera America, vastly expanding the TV news operation's presence in the United States. Recently, Qatar Airways announced plans to add Dallas, Miami and Philadelphia to its routes in 2014. Last month, Qatar reported it will spend $19 billion to buy 50 Boeing 777 aircraft, part of a larger deal between the U.S. aviation company,  Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Although the Qataris are prominent developers on four continents, they have invested heavily in major European markets. In the past six years, Qatar invested $33 billion in Britain alone. However, the country is now looking overseas and finding major US cities as attractive markets. 

“The U.S. real estate market offers attractive fundamentals over the next few years, making it an important segment of any investor's real estate portfolio,” Khalid al-Subeai, chief executive of the First Investor, the Qatari investment bank that financed City Center, stated. See story in the Washington Post.