Some EB-5 foreign investors are willing to put more money on the table to finish building townhouses and condos at Jay Peak Resort’s State Side project to get their green cards.
Court-ordered receiver Michael Goldberg said he’s been approached by foreign investors who want to complete the 35 townhouses that are in various stages of construction, put on hold by the fallout of the lawsuits against the EB-5 funded projects in the Northeast Kingdom. He is meeting with them this week.
“It’s premature to tell you exactly what will happen. My gut reaction is that it will go forward,” Goldberg said Wednesday.
The investors are concerned that if the project is left unfinished, their initial $500,000 investment will not have created enough jobs in the area to ensure that they will receive their green cards.
Goldberg estimated that the State Side townhouse project, plus the planned medical center and indoor recreation center with climbing wall and theatre, will cost about $20 million. That would require 40 investors at $500,000 each.
He hopes that all 84 of the townhouses in the State Side project could get built out.
Goldberg called this a rare situation where investors who are caught in a fraudulent case or Ponzi scheme that is before the courts are willing to put more money into a development. Most investors just want everything sold as soon as possible to get some money back.
“This is not the normal receivership. I’ve never had a receivership where the investor victims have called me up and said ‘I want to put more money in to make sure it gets completed.’ I’ve never seen that before.”
Goldberg said he has spoken with hundreds of investors, including investor groups that want to infuse more money.