Maryland company designing, building signature attraction for indoor theme park near Beijing

American roller coaster designer and manufacturer Premier Rides will soon build the world's tallest indoor roller coaster at the Berjaya Great Mall of China, a short ride away from downtown Beijing.

The Maryland-based Premier Rides has been commissioned by the Great Mall of China to build the roller coaster for its indoor theme park. Construction will take place in Maryland and Utah, and is likely to be completed in early 2013.

"We will do the construction in the US as we need to incorporate some specialized processes that will make the ride smooth. It has taken many years to establish these processes. Once we complete the construction, we will ship it (the ride) to China in parts and have them assembled there," Jim Seay, president of Premier Rides, says. The project is expected to create nearly 250 jobs in the United States.

The Great Mall of China is expected to be the largest shopping mall within the Asia-Pacific region when it opens in 2013. Developed by the Berjaya Corp Berhad, a Malaysian company, the mall is being constructed on a 76-acre (31 hectares) piece of land, and will consist of retail shops, entertainment venues, an indoor theme park and a water park. Located in Yanjiao city, about 15.5 miles (25 km) from the Beijing Capital International Airport, the project will be the largest indoor theme park in northern part of China.

Premier is known for Revenge of the Mummy, an indoor roller coaster featured in Universal Studios theme parks in Los Angeles, Florida, Singapore and Dubai. The first roller coaster built by Premier for China is the magnetic launch coaster in 2006 called Mad Cobra, featured at the Dalian Discovery Kingdom theme park in Liaoning Province. Premier also has an installation called Autopia at Hong Kong Disneyland.

The yet-to-be-named ride will be designed with Premier's advanced magnetic drive technologies. However, because of competitive reasons, the Great Mall of China will only disclose additional ride specifications later in the year.

Great Mall of China's spokesman Kevin Tan says the organization is excited to bring the new ride to the mall.

"We believe that Premier Rides' new attraction will satisfy even the most fearless thrill-seekers. As a signature attraction of the Great Mall of China, it will certainly set the bar high not only for this project but for the whole Asia region."

The deal follows a trade mission to China by the State of Maryland's Department of Business and Economic Development in June last year. Touted as one of the state's largest delegations sent overseas, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley brought 68 entrepreneurs and officials with him to China, South Korea and Vietnam with an aim to attract more foreign direct investment to Maryland.

Premier, along with 48 other Maryland-based organizations, spent five days in Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing meeting with potential partners and clients, according to Bradley Gillenwater, a regional manager at DBED.

"Premier has been eyeing China as a market to penetrate. The company already has a roller coaster in Dalian. I have been talking to Jim about the governor's mission. He (Jim) decided in a short amount of time to attend the trip. Our office in Shanghai could assist with his goal. We are thrilled that it took only seven months for Premier Rides to secure the deal," Gillenwater says.

The Shanghai office, which has about 20 employees, helped to secure meetings for the 49 Maryland organizations and introduced them to relevant Chinese companies.

"Our Shanghai office employees offered translation services for these companies. One of our representatives in Shanghai accompanied Jim to his meeting and provided communication support in the negotiation process," Gillenwater says.

Maryland has long maintained a good relationship with China. It was the first US state to open a trade and investment office in Shanghai in 1996. In 2010, China was Maryland's third-largest export market with $571 million in goods and services, according to DBED.

Although Seay has been to China on business trips, this was the first time that he met nearly 15 to 20 companies in China.

"China is a very important country for Premier due to its significant growth in theme parks. We want Premier to be part of China's future. The trip with the governor was very important in building important relationships like the one we have with Great Mall of China," Seay says.

China's increasing disposable income is sparking an increase in theme park construction. Last year, Walt Disney received approval to break ground on a $3.6 billion outpost in Shanghai.

Theme park builders are eyeing Asia as the industry is dwindling in Europe and the US, according to a BBC report in September. Overall spending on entertainment and media in Asia Pacific is set to increase 4.5 percent each year, jumping to $413 billion in 2013 from $331 billion in 2008, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, with China posting one of the biggest increases.

Seay says the company is unable to disclose the amount of the deal because of "restrictions by the customer".

"It does take some months for big projects like this to get finalized. We were fortunate to have executives from the Great Mall of China to come visit us in late fall. They came for a site visit in Maryland. I think it makes a great business and cultural interchange," Seay says.

To gain a strong foothold in China's market, Premier will establish an office in China to "focus on building more projects over there," Seay says.

"We consider China an important part of Premier's future. We have decided on a location for our China office, and we hope to announce it within a short period of time."

Gillenwater says the DBED will continue to work with Premier to help the company negotiate and pursue more deals in China.