RSR provides Fraser Partners, LLC with $15.5 million construction financing

State College, PA RSR EB-5 Regional Centers (RSR), an affiliate company of Switzenbaum & Associates, arranged financing of a mixed-use, ground-up construction through the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) EB-5 immigrant investor program. RSR is providing $15.5 million to borrowers Fraser Partners, LLC, an affiliate company of Real Estate Capital Management and Brickbox Enterprises Ltd., for the construction of The Fraser Centre. The interest-only loan is in conjunction with a senior construction loan from Fulton Bank, which provided the remainder of the required debt for the project.

Loans from both RSR and Fulton Bank closed in November 2015.

Originally structured for 30 investors, the project opened an additional spot due to increased demand. While USCIS requirements for EB-5 stipulate that a minimum of 10 new jobs must be created for every investor, this project’s construction and operation will create an estimated 521 jobs, marking more than 200 than what is required.

“Through our international network primarily focused in China and the U.S., The Fraser Centre’s EB-5 loan is just the beginning of a lending platform with several projects in the pipeline,” said Samuel Switzenbaum, president and CEO of Switzenbaum & Associates. “We are thrilled that the trend is spurring development in State College, where the need exists for a mixed-use development like The Fraser Centre.”

The Fraser Centre is a 265,000 s/f new construction project situated on the crest of Pennsylvania State University’s main campus. The celebrated building, marking the town’s tallest construction and first new hotel in more than two decades, contains: approximately 50,000 s/f of retail space; a 165-room Hyatt Place Hotel; and 26 residential condominiums.

Gary Brandeis of Real Estate Capital Management, the co-developer, said, “By offering large floor plate, energy-efficient retail suites with 15’ ceilings and floor-to-ceiling exterior glass, The Fraser Centre has given international retailers seeking this type of modern space the ability to access Downtown State College for the first time.”

Construction of The Fraser Centre is ongoing, with grand openings for the center’s retailers projected for fall 2016.

RSR EB-5 Regional Centers, an affiliate company of Switzenbaum & Associates, is an EB-5 lender with a focus on providing municipalities and private developers of HUD-insured 221(d)(4) projects with gap financing in order to complete their capital stack. Based in Philadelphia, Switzenbaum & Associates is a fully integrated real estate investment, development and management company with an emphasis today on developing and investing in multifamily apartments. The company’s process strives to establish each investment on a sound business foundation, but always with a creative market-driven approach that relies on four essential values: integrity; transparency; creativity; performance.