Developers of an outlet mall just two hours south of San Antonio found a handy source of cash — wealthy investors from China.
The Outlets at Corpus Christi Bay in Robstown opened its doors last month and so far, developers report that the project has attracted $10 million in cash from Chinese investors.
Built by Vermont-based EB Development LLC, Iowa-based retail construction giant Lockard and San Antonio-based Carduner Commercial LLC, the City of Robstown also pitched in by creating a $38 million tax increment reinvestment zone for the outlet mall and the surrounding area.
More important to foreign investors, city officials created the Robstown EB-5 Regional Center LLC in August 2010 and got the outlet mall listed as an EB-5 investor visa project.
San Antonio-based developer Rick Carduner addresses a crowd attending the grand opening of the Outlets at Corpus Christi Bay, which has attracted millions of dollars of investment from China.
Under the federal government's EB-5 visa program, qualifying investors get an easy path to a green card for themselves and their immediate family if they invest at least $1 million dollars in the United States and create 10 jobs.
So far, the outlet mall is listed as the center's sole EB-5 project but because the region is listed as having high unemployment and has been classified by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services as a "targeted employment area," the minimum investment for an EB-5 visa applicant drops down to $500,000.
Carduner Commercial Principal Rick Carduner told the Business Journal that the outlet mall project has 75 slots for EB-5 investor visas and that so far, 20 of them have been taken — all of them by wealthy investors from China.
As part of attracting investors to the project, Carduner has flown to Shanghai where he has spoken at investment seminars about the outlet mall project. So far, it has paid off.
"Twenty investors at $500,000 each — that's $10 million dollars," Carduner said.
Robstown City Manager Herman Rodriguez, who also serves as executive director for the Robstown EB-5 Regional Center, told the Business Journal that the city does not have any current plans to add more EB-5 visa projects but the outlet mall remains attractive to investors.
An aerial view of the Outlets at Corpus Christi Bay in Robstown. The project has 75 slots for the EB-5 investor visa.
Unlike other EB-5 visa projects, Rodriguez said the outlet mall has already been built and is in operation. And although EB-5 visa market is volatile, Rodriguez said demand remains strong in China where brokers are finding more success than other nations.
"It's a lot easier to get investors from China," Rodriguez said.