Poroshenko: Putin Wants "Less Stable World"; Japanese Cars Flood into Kenya
QUEST: A beautiful day in New York and a beautiful building for us to ogle over. It has been described as the closest thing to heaven in New York City. It's the empire state building, classically art deco, magnificent in its excellence. Jutting out of the Manhattan skyline it stands as a reminder of an era when America's greatest city raced to build higher to the sky testing the limits of engineering and industrial mite. Now some of the Middle East oil riches are being poured into this building. A deal worth more than $.5 billion, Qatar's Sovereign Wealth Fund has bought a 10 percent stake in the trust that owns the skyscraper. Qatar has 10 percent. Now, already Norwegian, Australian, and Japanese investors have also acquired part of it over the years. Construction of the Empire State began in the 1930s during the Great Depression. There were 3,000 workers and they built the floor -- four and a half floors, four and a half floors every week for a year. A 103 stories in total and it cost them $24 million. Of course, we remember the Empire State because only three years after starting construction it featured in the 1933 film "King Kong." Already then they knew it was going to be an icon. The building battled with the Chrysler to see who was going to be the world's tallest. In the end it was overtaken by the World Trade Center in the 1970s. But for the best part of four decades this was the tallest building in the world. Donald Trump tried to take control in the `90s. The trust went public in 2013. The Empire State Building, magnificent. Now Robert Reffkin is with us. The founder of Campass, a New York City real estate firm. Good to see you, sir.</s>ROBERT REFFKIN, FOUNDER, CAMPASS: Good to see you as well.</s>QUEST: I gave it sort of a recitation of the Empire State Building, but there's more to it than just the fact, isn't it? Tell me about this building.</s>REFFKIN: Obviously, it's an iconic building viewed that way across the world. It was developed during the middle of the Great Depression. Many people thought it would go bankrupt, but 3,400 workers built it in 13 months. It is a symbol of hope, aspiration and reflection that in New York anything's possible.</s>QUEST: right, but as I look at the ownership, just about since the day it was built they have been squabbling, the Helmsley's, the Trump's, they've all argued about who owns the Empire State.</s>REFFKIN: Yes, look, wealthy people want great things, right? This is as great as it gets. It's not only an iconic building but a safe haven. In the United States It's viewed as a safe haven for foreign investors across the world. Where there's geopolitical risk. There is economic risk, macroeconomic risk. And here in the U.S., not just the U.S. -- not just the U.S., but New York City -- it's more stable than any other market in real estate.</s>QUEST: But there's lots of big buildings. Why this one? Because it's old. It had a $.5 billion refit. But even so in an era where you want fiber and you want more coms and you want more air conditioning. I've been in a few of the offices over there over the years. They've been well done out, but it's still an old building.</s>REFFKIN: Fun fact about this building is that 40 percent is revenue, at $90 million a year is produced by two floors, the Observatory Decks. It just shows how much the world wants to be here. That said, compared to fiber optics and other investments and telecom and internet, if Qatar want to put $35 billion into the U.S. over a five-year period, it's not that easy to invest that kind of money. So to put in $600 million into a property like this that is stable, currently cash flow producing, that's a good opportunity.</s>QUEST: Is it? How does it compare? We're obviously in the Time Warner's Center. There's Hudson Yard being built. There's the World Trade Center, World One Trade, which of course is the Freedom Tower, whatever it's called this month. How does it compare to have an office suite in terms of cost in the Empire State as elsewhere?</s>REFFKIN: There's more upside -- as a tenant, there's more upside -- as an own there's more upside with the tenants here than in the properties that you mentioned. It's relatively cheap. Actually we looked at renting space in the building as well. But I would say that, you know, still, the focus is more on owning stable assets in the United States and in the United States, New York is as stable as it gets.</s>QUEST: In a word, is it your favorite tower in New York?</s>REFFKIN: Historically, absolutely. It represents hope, aspiration, the American dream, and everything is possible.</s>QUEST: Hope, aspiration, the American dream. Thank you, sir. Good to see you.</s>REFFKIN: Great, thank you.</s>QUEST: Now, while Qatar takes partial ownership of an American icon, Japan has taken over the streets of Kenya. An emerging middle class there is clamoring for cars. And the most affordable ones are used vehicles from the land of the Rising Sun. CNN's Zain Asher reports in our series "AFRICA LOOKS EAST."</s>ZANE ASHER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Nairobi, it's a city on the move. The economy is growing and with it an emerging middle class ready to get out of cramped buses and into their own car. Car sales have soared in recent years and Japanese models are becoming more and more popular. Experts say about 80,000 imported Japanese cars were registered for Kenyan roads last year.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything available in the market. If you want to start from the lower level to the top level, you can buy whatever you want to buy, especially in the Japanese makes.</s>ASHER: But most cars on these roads don't come from showrooms. At the Kenyan port of Mombasa an almost steady stream of used Japanese cars drive off of ships and head straight to the Kenyan market. Because of strict Japanese emission rules, most of these older cars no longer meet current standards in Japan. But they're an affordable option to people in Kenya where emission laws are less rigid.</s>WALIMOHAMMED JIWA, GENERAL MANAGER, SBT KENYA: We have about five vessels a month. We try and book space in any available vessel from Japan.</s>ASHER: Walimohammed Jiwa is the Kenyan manager for Japan's largest used car exporter. Cars are shipped, driven to large holding sites attached to ports, then delivered to customers across the country. To either used car lots, which then sell them or increasingly individual buyers. The company's imports into Kenya has increased 40-fold in less than a decade and now most of the company's sales are made online.</s>JIWA: People are slowly opening up to the idea of importing the car on their own. Previously they would go to a showroom or broker or a car dealer to get a car, but now the middle class wants to import a car by themselves.</s>ASHER: Import duties are substantial, sometimes even doubling a price of a new car. Still used Japanese cars selling here for $5,000 to $10,000 total are meeting the demands and filling the roads of Kenya's changing face.</s>QUEST: It maybe a case of regrets. He's got a few. He's the head of Lloyd's Bank in the U.K. who's sending a memo to all of his employees apologizing for damaging the company's reputation. What did you do that was so dreadful?