It's Business As Usual (Mostly) for EB-5 Activity in DC

WASHINGTON, DC—The EB-5 program may or may not be re-authorized by Congress next month, but it is a business as usual for DC area projects. The locally-based company EB5 Capital just announced that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services has begun to issue I-829 Petition approvals for immigrants who invested in the Marriott Marquis Convention Center Hotel. And separately, earlier this month, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced $155M of foreign investment headed into the District, from EB-5 investors in China.

It is fitting that the Marquis is in its final stages of the EB-5 investment cycle this month -- it was one of EB5 Capital's earliest projects here. EB5 Capital, for its part, was one of the first companies to leverage this financing for real estate development.

EB5 Capital raised $5 million from 10 immigrant investors to help finance the Marquis, the first phase of a multi-year, three-hotel Marriott development next to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The Marquis opened on May 1, 2014 as a four-star, luxury hotel and is connected to the Convention Center via an underground tunnel.

The developers for the Marquis, affiliates of Quadrangle Development Corp. and Capstone Development, are also building its second phase, which consists of two new Marriott hotels and will be called Columbia Place.

Earlier this year, Brian Ostar, director of Global Operations for EB5 Capital, told GlobeSt.com that it would be raising $40.5 million from EB-5 investors for the two additional hotels. 

GlobeSt.com was unable to speak with EB5 Capital in time for publication to see if this round of fundraising was still proceeding, given the uncertainty around the program.

Although based on the haul with which Mayor Bowser returned from China, foreign investors appear to remain very eager to participate in these projects in exchange for a path to a US Visa.

Bowser announced the funding at InvestDC forum in Shanghai.

The Wharf/Southwest Waterfront will receive $100 million and Skyland Town Center will receive $55M of the EB5 funding from EB5 Investors and the Wailian Agency.

DC has been a favored destination for EB-5 funding for years and, to hear Mayor Bowser tell it, these capital inflows will continue with the District expecting to attrac at least $500 million within the next five years. "We welcome all Chinese investors who are willing to contribute to the development of Washington DC, and we sincerely hope that we can create a brighter future together," Bowser said at the forum.

However, Wailian Overseas Consulting Group, an immigration investment company in China, which also attended the forum, did note that investors are waiting to see which way the political winds blow with the program.

The possible expiration of the EB-5 Act has suppressed some of the investors' enthusiasm, it said in its own press release about the forum.

"The largest concern for many of the investors is if Chinese investors are no longer welcomed by the US Government. Chinese investors are also concerned about future policy changes that might affect them from getting permanent green card status, and retrieving their investment funds, even when they were originally I-526 approved," it said.