Thursday, May 28, 2015

The Flats East Bank Project: An Overview


The Flats East Bank project began with the idea to rebuild and revitalize a largely empty section of downtown Cleveland, located along the east bank of the Cuyahoga River. New development was devised and a plan to build a vibrant and livable urban district complete with housing, entertainment & retail destinations, and office space emerged. The combined effect of these new elements near the downtown core that would not only draw tenants to new buildings but help reinvigorate a part of Cleveland suffering from economic stagnation.

The idea to capitalize on Cleveland’s underdeveloped waterfront is not new per se and the initial plans for the Flats East Bank appeared more than a decade ago. However because of various limiting factors (most notably the 2008 Financial Crisis that destroyed many developers’ access to traditional credit sources) the Flats East Bank seemed destined to remain an intriguing concept of new downtown Cleveland development.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

EB-5 is Working for Cleveland

Welcome to Cleveland International Fund’s first in a series of blog posts that provide an insider’s view of how the USCIS’ EB-5 Program is helping finance economic development across Greater Cleveland.

For those new to our blog EB-5 is the US Government’s Immigrant Investor program that allows foreign nationals who invest a significant amount of vetted capital into a job-creating US project or business to then be eligible for US residency. CiF is a USCIS Regional Center, which is a private company authorized by the USCIS to create and market these kinds of investments.

With more than $200 million in EB-5 funds under management, CiF has consistently recruited foreign investors and used their investment capital to create jobs and fill critical gaps in financing, allowing for the completion of several major Cleveland developments.