45-story condo tower proposed for Seattle: The $225 million project would be built with money from foreign investors who, under an obscure federal program, can parlay investment in certain neighborhoods into permanent U.S. residency, or "green cards." An application by the city and the Sky project's developer, Twin Development, to include downtown Federal Way in the program was approved by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services last fall.
Without that designation and the inducement of green cards, the proposed condo tower wouldn't have penciled out, said Twin's co-manager. The Federal program is known as EB-5. It grants would-be immigrants residency if they invest at least $500,000 in a project that creates at least 10 jobs in a designated "regional center" targeted for economic growth. |