News for the Hospitality Executive |
Gateways
to Citizenship and Hospitality: Hotel
Financing through EB-5
by Li Chen
May 29, 2013 The EB-5 immigrant visa program, around for more than 30 years, is gaining momentum as a vehicle for financing hotels. In September of 2012, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to extend the EB-5 Regional Center Pilot Program through September of 20151. This is more than another proverbial act of Congress; it is in fact very timely news for hoteliers. Financing for hotel projects through traditional sources remains scarce, and the EB-5 program can help investors complete the “capital stack” necessary to finance a hotel. Recent high-profile EB-5 hotel investment campaigns include the NYLO South Dallas hotel, the Knickerbocker Hotel in Times Square, and the 377-room Marriott in Los Angeles. With the energy behind these EB-5-funded projects rippling across the country, more hotel developers are considering EB-5 financing as a source for financing new hotels and hospitality careers. EB-5 Regional Centers A brief background: The EB-5 visa for Immigrant Investors, created by Congress in 1990, targets qualified foreign investors seeking U.S. citizenship. The visa provides a route to permanent residency (a green card) for foreign nationals who invest at least $1,000,000 (or $500,000 in a "Targeted Employment Area"2) in a business while creating or preserving at least ten full-time jobs for U.S. workers3. Under a pilot immigration program enacted in 1992 and regularly reauthorized since, certain EB-5 visas are set aside for investors in “Regional Centers” designated by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) based on proposals for promoting economic growth. Investments made through Regional Centers can take advantage of a more expansive concept of job creation that includes both “indirect” and “direct” jobs. Direct jobs are jobs created within the new business itself. Indirect jobs are created by others when the EB-5-created business buys materials, equipment, and services. The ability to include the creation of indirect jobs permits larger-scale real estate projects such as hotels to become viable EB-5 investments. The EB-5 program played an important role in financing for new hotel development during the economic downturn. In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008, developers were looking for alternative forms of financing when capital from traditional sources evaporated. The EB-5 program has proven to work as an alternative source of financing for new hotel developments and hotel expansions on projects such as the W Hollywood in Los Angeles and the Courtyard by Marriott and Residence Inn by Marriott in LA Live. The EB-5 program’s Regional Center provision provides the lowest barrier to entry for hotel investments. The USCIS defines a Regional Center as “. . . any economic entity, public or private, which is involved with the promotion of economic growth, improved regional productivity, job creation and increased domestic capital investment4.” The following provides some guidance for hotel investors and developers applying for status as a USCIS Regional Center:
On February 17, 2012, the USCIS released a memorandum concerning what it calls the “tenant-occupancy” economic methodology. According to the USCIS, this methodology seeks credit for job creation by independent tenant businesses that lease space in buildings developed with EB-5 funding. Many EB-5 Regional Center applicants were sent a standard request for evidence (RFE) that contained the following introduction: USCIS has concerns that the
attribution of
certain direct jobs to the EB-5 investment may not be based on
reasonable
economic methodologies, and therefore do not demonstrate in “verifiable
detail”
that the requisite jobs will be created. Rather, contemporary economic
methodologies appear to indicate that such jobs would more
appropriately be
attributed to the tenants themselves and not to the regional center
because the
demand for labor precedes the decision about where to house that labor
as a
general economic principle.6
Conclusion New hotel construction and acquisitions continue through a select number of developers with deep cash reserves, well-established relationships, and EB-5 financing.7 The EB-5 route has gained mainstream acceptance across the hospitality industry, including with leading hotel developers and brands. The program involves taking certain risks but provides a potentially attractive way of raising considerable financing for new hotel development, primarily while funds through traditional sources remain hard to find. The following table shows how the number of EB-5 visas—representing a wide diversity of foreign investors and U.S. projects—has grown since 2006. EB-5
Visa Issued by Year8
_____________________ 1USCIS Program Extension Alert 2Defined as a rural area or a location with high unemployment. 3These jobs exclude positions held by the investor and members of his/her immediate family. 4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Web site. 5EB-5 and the Tenancy-Occupancy Issue as Applied to Hotel Employees. Catherine DeBono Holmes, Victor T. Shum. March 29, 2012. http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4055477.html 6U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services memorandum of February 17, 2012 7Report from the 2013 ALIS hotel investment conference http://hotellaw.jmbm.com/2013/01/alis_conference_2013.html 8U.S. Department of State (through the Association to Invest In the USA ) http://iiusablog.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/IIUSA-FY2012-EB5-VISA-STATS-Source-DOS.pdf About the author: Li Chen is a Vice President with the HVS Dallas office. Li earned her Master's degree from Michigan State University's Eli Broad College of Business and has extensive hotel experience, including front office and accounting department experience at the Renaissance LAX. Li travels and works extensively in the southwestern U.S. for the D/FW team. Contact Li at (310) 755-8293 or [email protected]. About HVS HVS is the world’s leading consulting and services organization focused on the hotel, restaurant, shared ownership, gaming, and leisure industries. Established in 1980, the company performs more than 2,000 assignments per year for virtually every major industry participant. HVS principals are regarded as the leading professionals in their respective regions of the globe. Through a worldwide network of 30 offices staffed by 400 seasoned industry professionals, HVS provides an unparalleled range of complementary services for the hospitality industry. For further information regarding our expertise and specifics about our services, please visit www.hvs.com. |
Contact: HVS Asset Management & Advisory 100 Bush Street, Suite 750 San Francisco, California 94104 United States of America Tel: +1 (415) 268-0368 Fax: +1 (415) 896-0516 [email protected] |