Harbor Regional Center

Foreign Capital, Local Jobs

The millions of dollars invested in Meres Town Center in Tarpon Springs, Tampa Festival on Hillsborough Avenue, and the Horizon Park shopping center at Hillsborough Avenue and Dale Mabry come courtesy of a Tampa firm’s unique investment model.

Thanks to foreign investors taking part in a program that is the fastest way to get a U.S. green card, Atlantic American Partners offers a diversified mutual fund-like approach to put capital to work to create jobs.

“We have a track record of raising money and harvesting funds,” says Gar Lippincott, a partner with Atlantic American and managing principal of its Atlantic American Opportunities Fund LP. He describes it as an institutional-quality asset akin to a REIT — a real estate investment trust. “It’s a diversified portfolio of commercial real estate that’s managed by a private equity fund.”

But it’s those jobs created from development projects, both directly and indirectly, that’s kept the federal EB-5 (employment based) visa program alive for two decades, providing a welcome counter-punch against stubbornly high unemployment. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service estimates it’s led to $1.5 billion in investment creating 31,000 jobs.

It also allows foreign investors to obtain a conditional green card good for two years, which they can receive as quickly as a year instead of twice as long or more by conventional means. That work permit allows holders to work and live anywhere in the U.S. and to travel to their homeland without a visa.

It’s conditional because the EB-5 regional center program requires proof of at least 10 jobs created for each $500,000 of investment. Once the job creation requirements are met, the green card becomes permanent. Only 10,000 green cards a year can be issued through the EB-5 program with 3,000 reserved for the regional center category.

“It’s not the end-all-be-all or answer to everyone’s capital needs,” says Roy Norton, director of the Siesta Key-based Florida Overseas Investment Center, an EB-5 regional center that teams with Atlantic American on some projects. Still, he adds, “It’s certainly great for Florida and the economy to see the job creation take place in the current economic circumstance with no taxes.

Foreign Capital, Local Jobs || Gulf Coast Business Review | Tampa ...

Impact. $1.5 billion investment and 31,000 jobs nationally.

The millions of dollars invested in Meres Town Center in Tarpon Springs, Tampa Festival on Hillsborough Avenue, and the Horizon Park shopping center at Hillsborough Avenue and Dale Mabry come courtesy of a Tampa firm’s unique investment model.

Thanks to foreign investors taking part in a program that is the fastest way to get a U.S. green card, Atlantic American Partners offers a diversified mutual fund-like approach to put capital to work to create jobs.

“We have a track record of raising money and harvesting funds,” says Gar Lippincott, a partner with Atlantic American and managing principal of its Atlantic American Opportunities Fund LP. He describes it as an institutional-quality asset akin to a REIT — a real estate investment trust. “It’s a diversified portfolio of commercial real estate that’s managed by a private equity fund.”

But it’s those jobs created from development projects, both directly and indirectly, that’s kept the federal EB-5 (employment based) visa program alive for two decades, providing a welcome counter-punch against stubbornly high unemployment. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service estimates it’s led to $1.5 billion in investment creating 31,000 jobs.

It also allows foreign investors to obtain a conditional green card good for two years, which they can receive as quickly as a year instead of twice as long or more by conventional means. That work permit allows holders to work and live anywhere in the U.S. and to travel to their homeland without a visa.

It’s conditional because the EB-5 regional center program requires proof of at least 10 jobs created for each $500,000 of investment. Once the job creation requirements are met, the green card becomes permanent. Only 10,000 green cards a year can be issued through the EB-5 program with 3,000 reserved for the regional center category.

“It’s not the end-all-be-all or answer to everyone’s capital needs,” says Roy Norton, director of the Siesta Key-based Florida Overseas Investment Center, an EB-5 regional center that teams with Atlantic American on some projects. Still, he adds, “It’s certainly great for Florida and the economy to see the job creation take place in the current economic circumstance with no taxes.

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