EB5 Investors Magazine Volume 6, Issue 1 | Page 75

sponsored loan programs is the Marshville youth campus, an Anderson Health Services project located in Marshville, North Carolina. Anderson’s campus is a psychiatric rehabilitation facility for troubled youth made possible and funded using the SBA 504 loan program and EB-5 funds. The facility provides on-site, live-in, full-time psychiatric counseling services to youth between the age of 13 to 17, with the goal of providing effective treatment and transitioning all youth treated at the facility back to their families and communities. Prior to construction of the campus, the state of North Carolina was sending as many as 400 youth per year to out-of-state facilities due to a lack of available recourses in the state. The total project cost for this project was $8 million, with $2 million in EB-5 funds invested in the first lien private loan. In addition to positive community impact of the Marshville campus, this project successfully achieved its job creation goal of 73 full- time jobs just halfway through the first year of operation, clearly demonstrating the positive impact that EB-5 funds can have not only through job creation but through serving society. The significant synergy between the EB-5 program and government-sponsored loan programs is driven by the shared goals of servicing underserved areas of the U.S. economy and promoting job growth. The marriage of the two creates a blueprint for both successful EB-5 investment for financiers and infusion of EB-5 funds into sectors of the U.S. economy where it is most needed and where it can do the most good. Raising EB-5 capital by leveraging government-sponsored loan programs, selecting high quality loan projects, and closing and servicing loans in a safe and stable way gives greater peace of mind to both EB-5 investors and the qualified project owners, which leads to overall EB-5 investment success. JOHN SHEN John Shen is the CEO of American Lending Center LLC. He is a pioneer in the regional center industry, where he’s introduced EB-5 capital to U.S. government loan programs, such as the SBA 504 program. In October 2017, Shen won the “Coleman SBA 504 Lender of the Year Award,” the annual award for the best small business lenders. He founded American Lending Center LLC in 2009, which received the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ regional center designation in April 2010 and a California finance lender license in November 2010. JUSTIN B. BLACKHALL Justin B. Blackhall is the founder of Blackhall P.C. His practice focuses on the representation of U.S. and international banks, and non-bank lenders in financing transactions, capital raising and compliance. It also specializes in the creation and deployment of secondary market and securitized loan products that represent SBA loan-related transaction lenders. Blackhall has closed lending and finance transactions valued at more than $2 billion and has raised more $500 million of private equity capital. He joined American Lending Center LLC in 2013 as the vice president and finance counsel. EB5INVESTORS.COM 74