New York, NY, March 16, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The New York City Regional Center (“NYCRC”) is pleased to announce the full repayment of its sixth EB-5 loan. This repayment brings the total amount of loan proceeds repaid in its offerings to $497.5 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 1,797 I-829 petition approvals in NYCRC offerings to date have enabled 5,230 individuals to secure permanent green cards.
“We are proud to announce the sixth loan repayment,” said Paul Levinsohn, NYCRC Managing Principal. “We thank these borrowers for their efforts and the respect they’ve shown the EB-5 investors.”
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 12 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 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 completed projects utilizing EB-5 capital from NYCRC-managed funds include the following:
- A new wireless 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; and,
- Expansion of the Hutchinson Metro Center in the Bronx.
The United States Department of Treasury has made three separate awards totaling $115 million in New Market Tax Credit allocations to a NYCRC-managed entity. To receive this allocation, the NYCRC was required to demonstrate a mission and long-term track record of investment in low-income communities.
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