In 2009, Garrett Kenny’s company, Feltrim Developments, was facing a stiff challenge. The Florida based real estate development company’s leading project, the Tuscana condominium resort near Orlando, FL was experiencing low occupancy rates and was struggling to sell its units. Even worse, they still owed $12 Million to the bank for the construction loan. The company was also losing $6 Million on a failed plan to redevelop the Grenelefe Golf and Tennis Resort in Haines City. To survive as a company, Feltrim had to re-engineer itself and find a new way to do business. They were able to do just that, and business is now better than ever. And one of the most important aspects to their re-tooled look is the EB-5 visa program.
The EB-5 visa program was created by Congress in an effort to stimulate the American economy, promote job growth and attract capital investment by wealthy immigrant investors. The program provides US visas to immigrant investors and their families, allowing them to become residents in the country, in exchange for a substantial investment in a US business. The investor must fund either $500,000 in a new US commercial enterprise located within a rural or high unemployment area or $1 Million in any desired US location. In addition, the investment must create or preserve a minimum of ten full-time jobs for American workers within two years.
Kenny said that Feltrim is on path to receive approval to open an EB-5 regional center at Feltrim’s Davenport headquarters. EB-5 regional centers, which exist all across the country, are government-approved centers that act as hubs where EB-5 investors can pool their investments together to fund special or large projects. The EB-5 regional centers can assist immigrants with their applications and act as overseers of the projects and make reports to the government to ensure that the rules of the program are being followed.
Feltrim had shifted their focus to buying and restoring distressed homes, and then reselling them, mostly to international investors. As a result, his company developed contacts with many investors in China who were interested in the EB-5 program. Kenny states that there are numerous investors in China looking to invest in US enterprises and that the EB-5 regional center will be a method for them to raise money to develop in the future.
The first project on the horizon for Feltrim’s EB-5 regional center is a hotel in Haines City. Details of the project have yet to be solved, but hotels have proven to be a favorite project for EB-5 regional centers all over the country. Hoteliers such as Hyatt Hotels, Starwood Hotels and Hilton all currently have projects underway which are relying on EB-5 program money, and Marriott has undertaken 14 projects to be funded through the EB-5 program, including a $168 Million hotel near the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA. Kenny and Feltrim hope to be added to that list of projects, which are all made possible by the EB-5 program.
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