The Margaritaville project has secured its USCIS approval to start taking in its EB-5 financing and has set up an office in Beijing to solicit investors, developer Lon Tabatchnick told City Commissioners at their July 13 meeting.
The EB-5 Investor Visa Program, which was authorized by Congress under the Immigration Act of 1990, is a federal program that offers green cards to foreign nationals and their immediate family members to invest in a project that creates a minimum of 10 American jobs.
The EB-5 project will consist of $75 million of the project’s $130 million total cost. Other financing includes $10 million in developer equity and a $10 million loan from the City’s Community Redevelopment Agency to be repaid in 10 years at 5 percent interest. Tabatchnick will pay the City $20,000 a month during construction, which is scheduled to begin Oct. 1, 2011, and the City will be paid $500,000 a year, with a 3 percent increase annually, once the project is finished.
“Everything seems to be moving forward on that front,” he said, referring to the EB-5 aspect of the beach project.
In addition, Tabatchnick said they have made several minor adjustments to the site plan that the City Commission approved on Dec. 15.Adjustments include a dual-lane slide as opposed to the original single-lane slide, added embellishments to the 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar and increased directional signs. They have also decided to modify the designs to the intracoastal property by creating two separate loading areas for the kayak/jet ski rentals and the excursion boat/water taxi boarding. City Commissions will need to approve the changes to the intracoastal property in September, Interim City Manager Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark said.
“This was driven by input from working with the excursion boats, water taxi and the CRA,” Tabatchnick said. “What are the needs? Why didn’t it work? These are our answers to those questions.”
Tabatchnick also said the water taxi company is trying to develop a Hollywood specific tour for residents and tourists. Currently, the water taxi operates on a 2-hour tour that expands past Hollywood, so they want to create a 45-minute tour that includes solely Hollywood attractions like bars and the Hollywood Lakes community.
Next, Margaritaville developers will conduct an operational meeting this month to secure financing for the proposed parking garage that will contain up to 456 hotel parking spaces and up to 600 public parking spaces and submit the construction drawings/plans to the City Commission in October. In addition, they will begin searching for investors for the EB-5 program.
The Margaritaville Resort is scheduled to open in March 2014.
For more information about the Margaritaville project, visit http://www.hollywoodfl.org/html/JohnsonStBeachRFP.htm.
