New York, NY, Jan. 27, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The New York City Regional Center (“NYCRC”) is pleased to announce the full repayment of $80 million to EB-5 investors in its Bronx Hutchinson Metro Center offering. This repayment brings the total amount of loan proceeds repaid in NYCRC offerings to $577.5 million. The NYCRC previously announced that over 5,000 individuals (EB-5 investors and family members) participating in its offerings have achieved permanent residency in the United States. A total of 1,820 I-829 petition approvals in NYCRC offerings to date have enabled 5,250 individuals to secure permanent green cards.
A NYCRC-managed fund provided a $80 million loan to an affiliate of Simone Development Companies to assist with the second phase of development at the Hutchinson Metro Center, a 42-acre parcel in the Bronx that has undergone a multi-year conversion from low-use industrial space to market rate commercial and office space. The conversion brought much needed Class A office and medical space as well as extended stay hospitality to the Bronx. The loan assisted with the construction of an approximately 318,000 square foot office, retail, and hotel complex. The new complex features two floors of medical office and retail space and a seven-story extended stay Marriott hotel, one of the first extended stay hotels built in the Bronx in over a decade. EB-5 capital in this offering helped meet three ongoing demands in the Bronx: the need for additional Class A office space; the need for additional health care office space to support surrounding hospitals; and the need for new hospitality options. Construction of the project is complete.
“We are proud to announce the full repayment of $80 million of capital to EB-5 investors in this offering,” said Paul Levinsohn, NYCRC Co-Managing Principal. “Our thanks to Simone Development Companies for their professionalism, hard work, and the respect they’ve shown the EB-5 investors. We are happy to have played a role in the continued revitalization of the Bronx.”
The NYCRC was approved by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in 2008 to secure foreign investment for real estate and infrastructure projects under the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. Congress created the EB-5 program to stimulate economic development through foreign investment. The program’s mandate is to use foreign investment to spur job creation while simultaneously affording eligible foreign investors the opportunity to become lawful permanent residents of the United States. The NYCRC was the first EB-5 regional center approved in New York City.
Over the past 14 years, NYCRC-managed funds have put over $1.5 billion of EB-5 capital to work across a broad spectrum of infrastructure and real estate projects in New York City. Much of this capital has been invested in underserved areas in need of long-term economic growth. Examples include:
- $767 million to finance ground-up, redevelopment, and infrastructure projects in Brooklyn, including seven projects totaling $339 million in the Brooklyn Navy Yard;
- $108.5 million to finance ground-up and redevelopment projects in Washington Heights (an Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone); and,
- $220 million to finance ground-up construction in the Bronx.
“The NYCRC has been an important source of economic development financing in areas requiring significant investment,” said NYCRC Co-Managing Principal George L. Olsen. “Capital from NYCRC offerings have created jobs for New Yorkers.”
The NYCRC announced the completion of project construction in 19 of its offerings to date. These completed projects successfully utilized NYCRC EB-5 financing to assist in the construction of over 3.8 million square feet of new development and renovation as well as infrastructure upgrades. Examples of projects utilizing EB-5 capital from NYCRC-managed funds include the following:
- A new Wi-Fi infrastructure network in New York City’s subway stations;
- Redevelopment of a new cargo and animal care facility at John F. Kennedy International Airport;
- New soundstages and production support space at Steiner Studios, New York City’s largest film and television studio;
- Fresh Direct’s new headquarters in the South Bronx;
- Redevelopment of multiple unused buildings and surrounding infrastructure upgrades in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York City’s largest industrial park;
- City Point retail complex in Downtown Brooklyn;
- A new hotel and medical office complex in Washington Heights;
- A new Wegman’s supermarket and industrial buildings in Brooklyn;
- Expansion of the Hutchinson Metro Center in the Bronx; and,
- Construction of the city-wide LinkNYC street-level Wi-Fi network.
Since 2016, the United States Department of Treasury has made four separate awards totaling $165 million in New Market Tax Credit allocations to a NYCRC-managed entity. To receive a New Market Tax Credit allocation, the NYCRC was required to demonstrate a mission and long-term track record of investment in low-income communities.
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