What happened to the parking lot plan?

From Curbed:

Something big is going up on the site of the shuttered Flushing Mall. Rumors of the mall's demise have been swirling since way back in 2011, but the foodie haven finally closed its doors this year and, it seems, will be razed to make room for a new development. YIMBY spotted plans for a 13-story, 192-apartment building with cellar-floor retail space near the site, and believes they're connected to the Two Fulton Square development. The new plans were filed by One Fulton Square developer F & T Group for the site bounded by College Point Boulevard, 37th Avenue, Prince Street, and 39th Avenue.

I seem to recall that the plan for this site was for it to be replacement parking for Municipal Lot 1 while construction was taking place, which will take years. So why are we seeing building plans for this site now?

Flushing Commons still a safety hazard

From the Queens Tribune:

Traffic issues around the Flushing Commons construction site have yet to cease, despite an amended stipulation with the Dept. of Transportation, made last December, requiring the placement of traffic control agents around the site during the duration of the construction.

However, according to State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), developers with TDC Development, the Rockefeller Group Development Corporation and AECOM Capital hired a couple of flagmen to direct traffic, instead of complying with the agreement.

One of the main reasons for the congestion was a closed sidewalk along Union Street, between 37th and 39th avenues. But after repeated complaints, the DOT agreed to provide a temporary pedestrian walkway on Union Street, to create a safe walking area.

While the DOT held up its end of the agreement, Avella said the developers failed to act responsibly by not fulfilling their commitment. On Feb. 19, Avella held a press conference to call on the developers to provide on-duty traffic control agents around the site.

Another reason for the congestion is a blocked lane along 39th Ave., between 138th Street and Union Street. Apart from increasing traffic jams, the closed lane limits room for the Q13, Q16 and Q28 busses to pickup and drop off passengers.

According to Avella, police in the 109th Precinct – located only a few blocks away from the construction site – and the local Fire Department complain that emergency responders are also having a tough time trying to get down the narrowed street.

Wellington Chen nominated for LPC Commissioner

From the Queens Chronicle:

Longtime Flushing activist and planner Wellington Chen has been nominated by Mayor di Blasio to serve on the 11-person Landmarks Preservation Commission as a lay member.

His nomination will now by vetted by the city and voted on by the City Council.

Chen has been executive director of the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corp. in Manhattan for nine years.

The Flushing resident previously served as a planning advocate for TDC Center, a Flushing developer. The firm, in conjunction with others, is now creating the mixed-use Flushing Commons, at the former site of Municipal Parking Lot 1.

Chen considers himself a preservationist and cites his involvement in trying to get the RKO Keith’s Theatre landmarked and saving Flushing Town Hall from neglect.

Chen also points to his involvement in saving Flushing Town Hall, which had been leased and was rapidly deteriorating. He called a meeting with the leasee and eventually the property reverted to the city.

CB 7 District Manager Marilyn Bitterman, who worked with Chen for years, said the mayor couldn’t have made a better choice in selecting him.

Rosemary Vietor, president of the Bowne House Historical Society, said Chen’s background “is perfect for this.” She pointed to his involvement in restoring Flushing Town Hall, adding, “I am very enthusiastic about him.”

But not everyone in Flushing is a fan of Chen. Paul Graziano, a historic preservationist and zoning consultant, said he has “great reservations” about the nomination. “I am very concerned because he is not a preservationist, but a longtime fixture in development issues.”

Jerry Rotondi, a member of the Committee to Save the Keith’s, said he doesn’t think Chen will be an asset on the LPC.

“He is too politically connected and I don’t see him as a champion for Queens because he’s on the side of too many developers,” Rotondi added.

Avella gets somewhere with DOT

From the Queens Chronicle:

Score two for state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) for getting the city Department of Transportation to take action on two problematic locations in Flushing and Little Neck.

The worst of the two is the area around the Flushing Commons construction project at the former municipal parking lot in Downtown Flushing. Avella and others, including the developer, have complained that lack of signage has backed up traffic on 37th and 39th avenues from Union to Main streets and on Union from Roosevelt Avenue to Northern Boulevard.

In addition, there is no pedestrian walkway on part of Union Street, making it dangerous for people who must walk in the street.

Avella has held two press conferences at the site and met with Queens DOT Commissioner Dalila Hall there seeking solutions to the problems.

On Friday, Avella announced that Hall had agreed to amend a stipulation with the developers to require them to provide traffic control agents for the duration of the construction, which is scheduled through 2021.

Hall has also agreed to install a temporary pedestrian walkway on Union Street.

In Little Neck, Hall has OK’d partial resurfacing and repair of Depew Avenue. It is scheduled to be completed in January.

TDC unhappy with traffic mess it caused

From the Queens Chronicle:

It’s always gridlock alert day in Downtown Flushing.

Calling it “the perfect storm,” Flushing developer Michael Meyer said last Friday at a Community Board 7 district cabinet meeting that changing bus routes, construction and increased traffic have exacerbated the situation over recent months.

“I’ve never seen such a bottleneck in my life and I’ve been around the world,” said Meyer, president of F & T, which is developing the Flushing Commons mixed-use development with the Rockefeller Group at the site of the former Municipal Parking Lot 1.

He said some inconveniences were expected during the multi-year construction project, but that no one had anticipated so much gridlock.

Joe Kennedy, representing the MTA, said the Q17 and Q27 buses have been rerouted from stopping at St. George’s Episcopal Church on Main Street to 138th Street, between 38th and 39th avenues. “The buses have a big problem turning around on 37th Avenue and the only way to solve the problem is to eliminate vehicles in the area,” he said.

CB 7 District Manager Marilyn Bitterman explained that the historic church foundation was deteriorating due to vibrations from all the buses. In addition, drivers were urinating on the structure and the Main Street stop was making it difficult for church dropoffs.

Meyer also believes the casino buses parked in the area add to the problem, as does Bitterman, but Kennedy downplayed their importance.

Capt. Tom Conforti, commanding officer of the 109th Precinct, said that the 37th Avenue traffic flow is backed up from Main Street, past 138th Avenue to Union Street, where the precinct is located.

Flushing Commons project will start any day now...

From the Times Ledger:

The developers of Flushing Commons have cleared their last major hurdles before construction can begin on the long-delayed, $850 million development.

F&T and the Rockefeller groups have put together $313 million to pay for the first phase of the project, scheduled to start this spring.

The developers closed on a $235 million loan from Starwood Property Trust at the end of March to help finance the cost.

The remaining $78 million includes debt and equity investment.

Once completed, the project will turn Municipal Lot 1, at the corner of 39th Avenue and Union Street in downtown Flushing, into a multi-use complex with residential, retail and commercial space, as well as a 62,000-square-foot YMCA and 1,600 parking spaces. The developers reached a deal with the city at the end of 2013 to buy the lot for $20 million.

It was originally proposed eight years ago and passed by the City Council in 2010, but was delayed for years because of funding problems.

The Rockefeller Group has also set up a website at flushingcommonsupdates.com to post updates in order to keep the community informed about the project’s progress.

Phase 1 is expected to be completed in early 2017 and will include 220,000 square feet of commercial and office space as well as 150 units of housing.

Flushing Commons renderings are full of white folk

Brownstoner Queens has renderings of Flushing Commons. Click to see what Downtown Flushing would look like without Asian people. Oh, and another interesting factoid: " Phase 1 should finish by April 2017 and Phase 2 will break ground in 2018. The whole shebang should wrap in the early 2020s and cost a grand total of $850,000,000."

Heh. Haven't we been talking about this project for more than a decade now?

Flushing Commons runs into parking problem

From the Queens Chronicle:

Parking at the proposed Flushing Commons mixed-use development project seemed to be on the minds of officials Thursday at a meeting of the Community Board 7 District Cabinet meeting.

Michael Meyer, president of TDC Development — which is working with the Rockefeller Group to develop the five-acre project on the site of Municipal Parking Lot 1 — outlined plans at the cabinet’s monthly meeting held at the Queens Botanical Garden.

But those in attendance were more concerned about long-term parking than when the first shovel will go into the ground. Although the entire project is not expected to be completed before 2021, 1,144 parking spaces will be retained during construction.

Meyer explained that the project has been broken up into two phases so as not to disrupt parking during the conversion. The site is bounded by Union and 138th streets and 37th and 39th avenues.

He said the plan will reduce congestion and benefit merchants. But CB 7 Chairman Gene Kelty was less sanguine about the plan, which calls for extended long-term parking on the second level of the existing lot.

“We want to divert commuter parking to Citi Field to open up more parking downtown,” Kelty said. “Instead, commuters will only have to pay $16 for the maximum time.”

The chairman said the announced plan “was not what we were told” and “that’s a big problem.”

He was supported by District Manager Marilyn Bitterman and representatives of the business community.

“If it becomes a problem with commuters hogging spaces, we can control it through pricing,” Meyer said.

The developer explained that rates will be different than the city’s, but that they will be locked in by the city until a year after the project’s completion.

If you don't like the deadline, just move it!

From Crain's:

Eight years after the city and a pair of developers announced plans for an $850 million mixed-use project in Queens called Flushing Commons, the deadline to begin work has been pushed back. Under the new schedule, the developers will close on the $20 million purchase of the property, a city-owned parking lot, by the end of the year. Ground is to be broken shortly afterward. Previously, the developers had faced a deadline of Thursday, Oct. 31, to get a shovel in the ground.

The project will be undertaken by a joint venture of TDC Development International and The Rockefeller Group.

Earlier this month, the developer filed for a construction permit to begin the first phase, which will include an underground parking garage, about 160 residential units, 350,000 square feet of retail or commercial space, a 1.5-acre open space and a 62,000-square-foot YMCA.

Shifting closing dates for projects as large and complex as Flushing Commons is not unusual, the Economic Development Corp. noted.

Will Flushing Commons finally break ground?

From Crain's:

Eight years after floating plans for a huge residential/retail project, and just weeks before a deadline for breaking ground, the developers of the $850 million Flushing Commons project in Queens filed for their first permit to actually begin the work.

The city Department of Buildings is currently reviewing the application filed by TDC Development International and The Rockefeller Group. The duo is seeking approval to spend $3.5 million to modify a portion of Municipal Lot 1, the 5.5-acre parking lot in the bustling neighborhood. That initial job will begin to lay the groundwork for the project's first phase, which includes construction of about 160 residential units and 350,000 square feet of retail or commercial space. It will also include a YMCA and park. Another 450 residential units and 150,000 square feet of retail or commercial space are slated for the second phase of the project, for which no starting date has been set.

Under their agreement with the city, the developers' first priority has to be rearranging the parking spaces in the downtown area to maintain the same parking capacity currently provided by lot, which will be demolished over time to make way for the new buildings. According to sources familiar with the project, the initial work under the permit will allow the developers to move some of the lots entrances and exits to clear the way to excavate for a new garage.

Under the contract signed between the developers and Economic Development Corp., which shepherded the project through the approval process, TDC and Rockefeller were required to break ground by Oct. 31.

Flushing Commons to be built in phases

From the Times Ledger:

Civic leaders reacted with skepticism after the city announced Tuesday that Flushing Commons will be built in two phases beginning this fall.

Developers of the long-stalled, mixed-use development are expected to break ground on the project in November, according to the city Economic Development Corp.

The $850 million project has been slated to rise over Municipal Lot 1 ever since a special permit was approved in 2010. But the major players — EDC, TDC Development and Construction Corporation and Rockefeller Development Group — left the parking lot untouched for years with virtually no explanation until this week.

The first phase of the project will include the two community benefits outlined in the original proposal — a 1.5-acre public open space and a 62,000-square-foot YMCA. It will also feature most of the total proposed commercial space, about 350,000 square feet, and about one-third of the housing, or 160 units.

Neither EDC nor the developers had a projected start date for phase two, which includes 450 residential units, 150,000 square feet of parking and 15,000 square feet of community facility space — a zoning designation that allows specific uses that would benefit residents, but is often sought by developers because it can allow slightly bigger buildings.

Because only the southern half of the parking lot will be developed first, the city and TDC maintain that no parking will be lost during the construction process.

So what's up with Flushing Commons?

From Crains:

In 2005, Flushing-based TDC Development, backed by the blue-chip Rockefeller Group, won the rights to knock down a five-acre city-owned parking lot on the edge of downtown and build 600 apartments, plus 420,000 square feet of retail and office space. For good measure, the developer would throw in a 62,000-square-foot YMCA, 36,000 square feet of community space and 1,600 parking spaces.

First to hold up the project was Comptroller John Liu, then the local councilman. He threatened to oppose the plan until developers added more parking. Not until 2010 did Flushing Commons finally win needed City Council approval.

Having cleared that crucial hurdle, Flushing Commons still has gone nowhere. TDC's website still projects a completion date of 2013 or 2014, but that is highly unlikely given that construction is expected to take more than three years.

Even worse, a spokesman for the city's Economic Development Corp., which is selling the lot to the developers, said that TDC has yet to raise enough money to buy the land from the city.

The most recent public update about the project came in July, when TDC Development President Michael Meyer said that traditional funding had dried up and that he was trying to secure loans from Chinese businesses in what is the city's largest Chinese neighborhood.

He and TDC Chief Executive Michael Lee, a native of Taiwan, are also seeking to tap into the federal EB-5 program, which provides a path to green cards for foreigners in exchange for investments of $500,000 or more in development projects.

A spokesman for the EDC declined to say how much funding the developers had raised, but noted that under the original contract they are required to come up with the cash by "this fall," and must begin construction by year's end.

Where does Flushing Commons stand?

From the Times Ledger:

On the heels of what appeared to be a fund-raising trip to Asia, the developers of Flushing Commons are back in Queens and in the process of inking contract deals for the $850 million downtown project.

Michael Meyer, president of TDC Development, attended meetings in cities including Hong Kong and Beijing in early March, e-mails obtained by TimesLedger Newspapers through the Freedom of Information Law show.

Meyer was upbeat, calling the tete-a-tetes “excellent,” but it was unclear exactly what was discussed, since details about the project were not released as part of the information request.

Meyer declined to comment at this stage in the project, but has said in previous interviews that Flushing Commons did not have enough funding to get a shovel in the ground.

A FOIL officer from the city Economic Development Corp. said the documents specifically related to the progress of Flushing Commons — which was approved in summer 2010 but never broke ground — were legally exempt because releasing them would affect a bidding process affiliated with the project.

The officer was not specific, but said the developers were currently negotiating new contract deals as part of the mega-project that is proposed to take the place of Municipal Lot 1 downtown...

But while Meyer was updating the EDC twice a month, community leaders who approved the project more than a year-and-a-half ago have been kept in the dark ever since.

Small businesses deserting Union Street

From the Times Ledger:

Small business owners on Union Street have slowly been making an exodus as dealings between the city and the developer of Flushing Commons continue behind closed doors, a business leader said.

Ikhwan Rim, president of the Union Street Merchants Association said that out of about 100 businesses located on the west side of the street, between Northern Boulevard and 37th Avenue — just a block — about 15 longtime tenants have moved their offices elsewhere.

Accountants and beauty salons are some of the businesses that packed up shop and relocated to Northern Boulevard or even other neighborhoods in the city, leaving behind the ones that would be hard to move, like retail stores with large inventories and restaurants, he said.

News Salon, a beauty salon that used to be on Union Street, recently moved to Northern Boulevard, according to Rim, who said the business owners wanted to take advantage of new retail space on the boulevard that might not be open in the future.

Don-A Travel Agency is another business that has made the exodus to Northern Boulevard, Rim said.

The problem scaring the entrepreneurs is the development of Flushing Commons, a $850 million mixed-use complex that is slated to take the place of Municipal Lot 1, a huge parking lot that Rim said is essential for the foot traffic that drives commerce along the street.

The parking lot is currently owned by the city, but according to plans that were approved last year, the city will sell the land to Flushing-based TDC Development, which in turn will construct the 5.5 acre project that includes 275,000 square feet of retail space.

EDC suspiciously violating the sunshine law

From the Queens Tribune:

New York City’s Economic Development Corporation has not yet disclosed the names of developers seeking to transform the auto repair shop oasis that is Willets Point, infuriating its opposition, Willets Point United.

This year EDC will reward a contract to a private developer to turn the 62-acre Iron Triangle into what some hope will be a hub of commercial activity; the most ardent supporters of the development dream that the cratered streets that wend among the dizzying number of repair shops, scrap yards and waste processing sites will be swapped for retail outlets, hotels and perhaps a convention center. EDC denied WPU’s Freedom of Information Law request for names of the developers, though the deadline for proposals to be submitted was Sept. 9, 2011.

“It’s important to disclose the names of the developers because EDC clearly cannot be held to its word,” a spokesperson for WPU said. “The need for transparency is paramount.”

Those who answered EDC’s request for proposals should be known to the public, WPU argues, because EDC itself is a public corporation. An EDC spokeswoman, Jennifer Friedberg, said the EDC is still negotiating with respondents. According to a 2011 report in Crain’s Business New York, a source disclosed four of the developers that had submitted proposals for Phase 1. They are The Related Companies, Silverstein Properties, mega-REIT AvalonBay Communities Inc., and TDC Development & Construction Corp. Related has partnered with Sterling Equities, the real estate firm controlled by Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz.

EDC, however, will not confirm any of the names, and since the deadline has passed for applicants to respond, there is no good reason for the names to be kept from the public, said Robert Freeman, executive director of the New York State Committee on Open Government.

“The developers are on equal footing if the deadline is reached,” Freeman said. “I don’t see any conceivable basis for withholding these names.”

TDC finds money

From the Queens Courier:

If you’re looking to lodge in the lap of luxury, a fancy Flushing facility may soon bring the opportunity to stay in style, closer to home.

Plans to construct a high-end, 168-room Hyatt Place hotel in Flushing are in the works, according to Michael Meyer, president of F&T Group, the company creating the accommodations.

Constructed by F&T Group’s in-house builder, Top 8 Construction, the hotel will be located on 39th Avenue between Prince Street and College Point Boulevard, directly across from the Flushing Mall.

According to Meyer, the hotel will be just one piece of a large development project, called One Fulton Square, which could potentially include retail shops, office space, condominiums and underground parking. The hotel will cover 110,000-square-feet of the One Fulton Square’s 303,000- square-feet. In addition, the building will also have a roof-top pool and bar.

This resort will be the first Hyatt Place in Queens and the newest upscale hotel in Flushing, according to Meyer.

EDC wants more development in Flushing

From the Times Ledger:

The city put out a call last week to develop a lot in downtown Flushing that is currently occupied by an unused city Sanitation Department building, citing future development in the area as one of the incentives.

The 2,500-square-foot lot is currently zoned for commercial use and in the heart of downtown Flushing at 135-15 41st Road, across the street from an entrance to the Long Island Rail Road’s Flushing-Main Street station.

“While the property is small in size, it represents a meaningful step towards creating a brighter future for downtown Flushing,” said Seth Pinsky, president of the city Economic Development Corp. “To reactivate this vacant building presents an opportunity to the private sector to be a part of Flushing’s incredible, ongoing renaissance.”

The two-story, gray brick building that sits on the lot was constructed in 1950 and subsequently used by Sanitation until 2005, when it was damaged by nearby construction, according to the EDC.

Any developer interested in the project would be responsible for demolishing the structurally compromised building before constructing a new one.

In the request for proposals issued Dec. 6, the EDC lists one incentive as the lot’s proximity to Flushing Commons, a proposed mixed-use, $850 million development that would take the place of Municipal Lot 1, which is between 37th and 39th avenues between 138th and Union streets.

“The nearby development of Flushing Commons indicates the growth potential and strength of the Flushing demographics,” the EDC said in the document.

Yet the project that was once scheduled to break ground in 2012 has been put on hold due to lack of funding.

In fact, the city-owned property has not even been turned over to the developer, TDC Development.

Does this stink or what?

From Crains:

Two of the area's most powerful developers and a real estate firm controlled by the owners of the Mets are among the firms that submitted proposals for the right to redevelop Willets Point, real estate and political sources said.

The Related Companies has teamed up with Sterling Equities, which is controlled by Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, to submit a proposal to redevelop the 12.75 acres included in the project's first phase, the sources said. Silverstein Properties, which is building three towers at the World Trade Center site, also threw its hat into the ring. None of the firms would comment. A real estate source said Sterling had teamed up on bids with more than one firm.

The Queens-based Times Ledger reported last month that Flushing-based TDC Development also made a bid.

City officials would not say how many proposals they received by last month's deadline, but indicated they were satisfied with the quantity and quality of the submissions. Twenty-nine firms were eligible to submit bids, based on an earlier qualifying round. Among those firms, the Westfield Group, the Richman Group of New York, Edward J. Minskoff Equities and Hamlin Ventures confirmed they did not submit bids.

“After receiving multiple responses for the first phase of development, we are another step closer to the new Willets Point,” a spokeswoman for the city's Economic Development Corp. said.

Hey remember when I told you about Wilpon's windfall 2 years ago? He already has dibs on taxpayer-owned lots B and D without having had to submit an RFP, but he wants Willets Point as well? He should be happy he survived Ponzi schemes, bankruptcy and having to sell off part of the team.

"Sterling had teamed up on bids with more than one firm"... I bet they did.

Anemic response to Willets Point RFP?

From the Times Ledger:

The city Economic Development Corp. said Tuesday it has received developers’ proposals for the overhaul of the first phase covering a dozen acres of the city’s $3 billion planned overhaul of Willets Point.

Although few details were released, the announcement that the city got the proposals Friday serves as a milestone in the six-year saga of one of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s long-stalled pet projects.

The city pushed the deadline for submitting proposals back a month to last week after at least one builder asked the city for more time to prepare plans, and three sources said in July that few companies planned to submit proposals because the project was too unwieldy, inflexible and expensive to justify the risk during a down economy.

Michael Meyer, president of TDC Development — one of the premier firms in the Flushing development industry — said his company was one of the ones that submitted a first phase proposal. The company has long been a part of the ongoing process to choose a proposal and developer for the site.

“I’m just going to say at this point, since [the EDC hasn’t] gone public with anything that from the time we submitted our Request for Expression of Interest six years ago, we’ve been consistent throughout,” Meyer said Tuesday. “I am very interested to know how many people submitted.”

From Willets Point United:

Well, well, well, isn't this interesting. TDC has been an integral part of the Claire Shulman LDC crime scheme - you know the one that cloaked the selfish interests of developers like TDC under the umbrella of a phony not for profit; a not for profit we may add that is enjoined from legally engaging in any lobbying whatsoever. This same entity received $500,000 in tax payers money to advance the interests of Mr. Meyer's company. Nice, no?

This is the fraudulent scheme that AG Cuomo was supposed to have been investigating before he got the endorsement of the mayor - can you say, quid pro quo? It is the scheme that the current AG, Eric Schneiderman is - at least according to his staff discussions with us - supposedly still investigating. What's the hold up, Eric? Not interested in taking on the mayor and the Queens Dems - led by Virginia's own Joe Crowley?

The bottom line in all of this is that Mike Bloomberg, Mr. The Rules Don't Apply to Me, concocted a plan to create a phony grass roots support group to advance the Willets Point development - and created an LDC that was simply a stalking horse for TDC and its cohort of developer colleagues. So, in essence the tax payers funded an astroturf effort to deprive the WPU property owners of their Constitutional rights.

And another WPU comment:

TDC has turned to Chinese investors and possibly breaking the project’s construction down into phases in hopes of getting a shovel into the ground soon.

So let's get this straight. The city is actually allowing a company that - as we said yesterday - was part of an illegal lobbying scheme to bid on a project that will displace American land owners, and do so with foreign money? Isn't it enough to violate Constitutionally protected property rights without adding insult to injury by outsourcing the land purchase?

Flushing Commons financing still in doubt

From the Times Ledger:

Financing for large developments has dried up across the United States, so the firm behind Flushing Commons, an $825 million, mixed-use project slated to break ground next year in the heart of downtown Flushing, has turned to Chinese money for help in getting a shovel into the ground.

Since the project cannot move forward until the city approves a financing plan, the company is looking “outside traditional financing methods because those methods are not available,” according to TDC President Mike Meyer.

“Our project is $825 million. That’s a heavy lift,” he said. “Since the financial markets here are not financing ground development in any substantial way, we’re going to have to utilize unconventional forms of financing, such as going to China.”

TDC, a Chinese-American firm with offices in China, is taking a number of steps in hopes of securing Chinese loans, including hosting a delegation of Chinese developers and real estate companies in Flushing, where they will tour Onex Real Estate’s $1 billion Sky View Parc development on College Point Boulevard and share a large dinner at TDC’s Queens Crossing building on Main Street.

TDC, which is currently building a “world trade center” project in Nanjing, China, that is 2.5 times the size of the 800,000-square-foot Flushing Commons, is also pursuing funding through the federal EB-5 visa program, which provides immigrant investors — TDC is looking mostly to Chinese nationals — with a pathway to obtaining green cards for investing $500,000 or more in American projects.