Visas-for-Dollars Program a Boon to Hotel Developers
The Marriott Courtyard hotel in downtown Seattle was paid for in part through a federal program that grants visas to immigrant investors.When Marriott International wanted to open a new hotel in downtown Seattle, the company’s developers didn’t sell bonds, take out a mortgage or tap other traditional forms of financing for the $88 million project. Instead, it raised the bulk of the money from wealthy immigrants who wanted a green card.
A government program, which grants so-called EB-5 visas to foreigners who invest at least $500,000 in an American business, is now a popular source of financing for new Marriott hotels. Since the Seattle deal in 2008, the company has endorsed 14 projects that use EB-5 financing, including the downtown Milwaukee Marriott, a Courtyard Marriott in Midtown Manhattan and a $168 million hotel near the Staples Center in Los Angeles. “It’s created liquidity in a relatively illiquid market,” said Anthony Capuano, the chief development officer at Marriott. Click here for full New York Times story.
