By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group® Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com 18 August 2017
EB-5 financing has gone mainstream for hotel development
The use of EB-5 financing has exploded over the past 8 years as an important funding source for new development – particularly for hotel developments. It is clearly now part of the “mainstream.” It is used by many institutional players, including government entities such as port authorities, major hotel brands like Marriott and Hilton, and some of America’s most successful and respected companies, such as Great Wolf Resorts, the Related Companies, and Silverstein Properties.
As lawyers who have worked on more than 100 EB-5 projects all over the country, we have noticed that everyone who investigates EB-5 financing wants answers to 5 big questions about the EB-5 financing opportunity for their project. It should come as no surprise that most of our EB-5 projects involve financing for new hotel development, because hotels are the most popular type of project for EB-5 investors, and we have one of the most prominent hotel law practices in the world. However, our team has also successfully used EB-5 financing for a number of non-hotel projects, including hospitals, senior living, restaurants, solar farms, and infrastructure projects.
The 5 questions every hotel developer is asking about EB-5 financing
Our developer clients say their top concerns in pursuing EB-5 financing is to quickly and reliably determine the answers to the following 5 questions below before they spend substantial time and money or forego other opportunities. They don’t want to waste their time on a wild goose chase. We think every developer considering EB-5 financing should be asking the same questions.
- Will EB-5 work for me on my project?
- How much money can I get?
- How much will it cost?
- How long will it take?
- How can I get certainty of execution?
JMBM helps developers get reliable answers quickly to these questions – addressing threshold feasibility and identifying potential “show stoppers” as the first priority at the very outset. The answers to the questions will vary with the developer, project, and economic conditions in the US and abroad. It is also affected by what Congress may do with the EB-5 law, and the rules and policies of various domestic and foreign regulators (including the SEC, FBI, USCIS, Department of Homeland Security and foreign government rules on capital flows outside their country), as well as foreign investor sentiments about immigration to the US and similar competing expedited paths to residency or citizenship in other countries (such as Canada, Great Britain, and Australia).
We understand what our clients want – quickly determining if EB-5 will work, optimizing EB-5 funding amounts, excellent financing terms, reasonable terms, speedy closings and certainty of execution. We always try to help our clients achieve their goals – it is our legal and ethical duty as lawyers. And our interests are aligned with our clients because we are too busy to waste time on problematic deals, we don’t want to damage our reputation for being able to close 100% of the EB-5 financings representations we undertake, and we are motivated by a success fee approach on our engagements.
How to get help evaluating and executing on EB-5 financing.
We have a lot of practical experience in helping our developer clients raise EB-5 funding. If you would like some help to evaluate whether EB-5 could work for you, or what strategy is best for you, then give us a call. There is no cost for an initial discussion.
For more information about how EB-5 might work for you, including the latest updates to our articles, go to www.HotelLawBlog.com, scroll down the right-hand side under LEARN MORE ABOUT and click on “EB-5 Financing” where you will find all the articles on the subject.
For your convenience, here are a few popular EB-5 articles that may be of interest:
EB-5 extended without change: President Donald Trump signs bill FAQs: Essentials of EB-5 construction financing for developers EB-5 construction financing term sheet for top developers More than $1.5 billion of EB-5 construction financing closed for JMBM clients Are hotels still the darling of EB-5 financing? The 5 questions every developer is asking about EB-5 financing Tips to avoid the 6 most common mistakes developers make with EB-5 Why you do NOT want to form your own regional center What does JMBM do to help with EB-5 construction financing?
This is Jim Butler, author of www.HotelLawBlog.com and hotel lawyer, signing off. Please contact us if you would like to discuss any issues that affect your hotel interests or see how our experience might help you create value and avoid unnecessary pitfalls. Who’s your hotel lawyer?
