New York Developer Considers EB-5 for $4.9 Billion Project

A New York City developer is considering funding a $4.9 billion development with help from the EB-5 visa program.

Bruce Ratner is hoping to obtain $250 million in foreign investment through the EB-5 visa program, which would make one of the largest amounts obtained through the program, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Atlantic Yards project that Ratner and his company, Forest City Ratner, are hoping to fund would include a basketball arena, retail space and thousands of apartments.

The EB-5 visa program was created to help attract foreign capital to American businesses. If a foreign national invests $1 million (or in specially designated areas, $500,000) and that investment leads to the creation or preservation of 10 jobs, the investor becomes eligible for a U.S. green card.

The central component of the Atlantic Yards project is the $900 million basketball arena that will be used to attract the NBA's New Jersey Nets to New York City.

The news source reports that the EB-5 visa program is not often used in New York but this spring the Brooklyn Navy Yard sought to gain $125 million in funding through it.

In fact, the Brooklyn Navy Yard project has been so successful that New York City officials encourage Ratner to utilize it for his project, although he has not yet secured the go-ahead from the federal government.

MaryAnne Gilmartin, an executive vice president at Forest City, said that the company paid attention to the progress of the Brooklyn Navy Yard project.

"When we watched that we realized it was something worth our energy," she told the news source.

Gilmartin said that the funds obtained through the EB-5 visa program would likely be used for the construction of a new rail yard for the Long Island Rail Road to replace the old one. In addition, she said that EB-5 funds may also be utilized to pay off land loans for the project.

Ratner is planning a trip to China next month to solicit investment in the Atlantic Yards project.

China provides the EB-5 visa program with a large percentage of its participants. In fiscal 2009, China accounted for 1,979 of the 4,218 U.S. green cards issued through the program, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.