By Walter F. Roche Jr.
A
Texas firm co-founded by presidential son Neil Bush is recruiting
foreigners to invest in Texas apartment complexes in return for a green
card under a program initiated during his father's administration 25
years ago.
The Great Texas Regional Center, which first had plans to build five minor league baseball stadiums with investments from foreigners, has gathered investments from more than a dozen foreign investors seeking to get the right to live in the United States indefinitely under the so-called investor visa program.
Though Neil Bush was a co-founder and chairman of the firm, he has since left the company, according to Great Texas officials. Bush did not respond to requests for comment.
The Great Texas Regional Center, which first had plans to build five minor league baseball stadiums with investments from foreigners, has gathered investments from more than a dozen foreign investors seeking to get the right to live in the United States indefinitely under the so-called investor visa program.
Though Neil Bush was a co-founder and chairman of the firm, he has since left the company, according to Great Texas officials. Bush did not respond to requests for comment.
The details about the Texas regional center comes as the investor visa program is drawing increased scrutiny following an Homeland Security Inspector General's report charging that improper influence was exerted on behalf of regional centers with political connections.
Under the investor visa or EB5 program, as it is formally known, foreigners can get green cards by investing as little as $500,000 in a U.S. business. Though it has since been amended and expanded, the original program was created in 1990 under a law signed by Neil Bush's father, George H.W. Bush.
Roger Christoph, manager of Great Texas, said Neil Bush has not been involved in the firm since 2013. It was co-founded by Neil Bush in 2010 and he served as board chairman for about three years.
Christoph said Bush does not have any ownership interest in the regional center.
Bush, according to published reports, made several trips to China seeking to recruit investors.
Bush's biography with details of his role with Great Texas is featured prominently on the company web site.
Bush, according to published reports, made several trips to China seeking to recruit investors.
Bush's biography with details of his role with Great Texas is featured prominently on the company web site.
Charles C. Foster,
an attorney for Great Texas, said in a recent interview that plans to build
six new baseball stadiums had been dropped in favor of investments in
apartment complexes. The first, a 385 unit complex in Dallas, known as
Aura Cedar Springs, is under construction.
Foster said additional apartment projects are planned in several other Texas cities including Midland and San Angelo.
Christoph, who had a background in developing minor league baseball parks, said that he learned of the investor visa program in 2009 and thought it might be a way to get funding for future stadium projects.
The U.S. CIS records request for Great Texas produced over 100 pages of documents but the vast majority were heavily redacted.
Under the original plan minor league ballparks and spots venue were planned in multiple cities including Amarillo, Houston, Denton and Laredo. The Laredo project alone was projected to produce 366 new jobs. The plans also called for a theme park called the Earthquest Institute.
CIS officials, the files show, did research into Neil Bush's background and included copies of his involvement in a failed Colorado savings and loan. One article detailed Bush being sued by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Great Texas' application to be a designated regional center was nonetheless approved Dec. 13, 2011. Nationwide some 646 regional centers have been approved.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com
Foster said additional apartment projects are planned in several other Texas cities including Midland and San Angelo.
But, he said, he found that potential investors, primarily from mainland China, were not interested in the idea.
"They (Chinese investors) have strong preferences with regard to project characteristics," Christoph wrote in an email response to questions.
"A minor league baseball facility does not fall within those parameters. Multi-unit residential projects and hotel projects seem to be more acceptable and have been our preference during the last two years," he added.
US CIS records obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request show that in 2013 the baseball park proposal had only attracted funding from a single investor.
Foster said that since the switch to apartment complexes, 14 applications have been filed with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in behalf of investors.The U.S. CIS records request for Great Texas produced over 100 pages of documents but the vast majority were heavily redacted.
Under the original plan minor league ballparks and spots venue were planned in multiple cities including Amarillo, Houston, Denton and Laredo. The Laredo project alone was projected to produce 366 new jobs. The plans also called for a theme park called the Earthquest Institute.
CIS officials, the files show, did research into Neil Bush's background and included copies of his involvement in a failed Colorado savings and loan. One article detailed Bush being sued by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Great Texas' application to be a designated regional center was nonetheless approved Dec. 13, 2011. Nationwide some 646 regional centers have been approved.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com
