Watchdog Minnesota reports in New EB-5 visa center to help finance proposed high-speed rail line:
A developer seeking billions for a proposed high-speed rail line between Rochester and the Twin Cities has federal approval to launch Liberty Minnesota Regional Center, an EB-5 immigrant investment center.
North American High Speed Rail group has been quietly negotiating with the Minnesota Department of Transportation to conduct a feasibility study and for exclusive rights to build an elevated line along the 84 mile Highway 52 corridor.
The Minnesota-based group plans to raise much of the estimated $4.2 billion — in private capital from foreign individuals and governments, including China — to finance the rail project. The EB-5 program provides permanent green cards to foreign investors who invest $500,000 to $1 million in businesses or economic development projects that create or preserve at least 10 jobs for U.S. workers. . . .
Liberty Minnesota promises “several exceptional projects to offer foreign investors. Our first project through this regional center will be called EdCampus,” a Chaska venture with openings for 296 investors. Applicants pay a $5,000 deposit to hold their place in a specific project, with the balance due within 90 days.
Curiously, the EdCampus came up last year as an illustration of what the building might be like for Expo 2023, a project association with the same group that's seeking to establish the private high-speed rail to Rochester.
In a late 2014 Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal interview by Sam Black, Face Time: Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie chases the 2023 World's Fair Expo, outgoing Secretary of State Ritchie answered the question, What type of structures will the Expo require, and who would build and own them?:
We expect that some developer will finance and build one large building of some kind and make it available to us in 2023 for the fair. One concept we have is for a large, beautiful glass, three-story building with lots of divided spaces. Kind of like the EdCampus in Chaska, which has flexible spaces on the inside. That would be the ideal. . . .
That's an unfortunate analogy, since the EdCampus has yet to be built--and the concept has been floating around for years without gathering much more than Minnesota Shiny Object Syndrome praise.
The project was first be proposed in 2008--and in 2013, the Star Tribune's The Drive (and other sources) reported that a planned park and ride for the project was shifted to East Creek, while describing the project as one that "never got off the ground":
The original plan was to build a park-and-ride lot at the proposed EdCampus, an educational hub to be built by a private developer with buildings leased to local postsecondary institutions. That project never got off the ground, so SouthWest changed course and built on the East Creek site.
In 2010, the Chaska Herald reported about that decision in Carver in line for park-and-ride by 2013.
A source in Carver County tells Bluestem that the land is still bare. There's a website, of course, with a 2013 copyright, and Metropolitan Lifelong Learning Center LLC, a foreign (Delaware) corporation, was registered its "home name" with the Minnesota Secretary of State's office on April 27, 2015 and the "Minnesota Business Name" on the same day, although the company had been operating in Minnesota since 2008.
Perhaps this outfit can make something of the facility, although Bluestem suspects that what was cutting-edge in 2008 is merely more expensive in 2015--and possibly more inflated.
Witness the pitch given to the Carver County commissioners in 2008:
And the pitch on the current website:
Although the transit hub described in the 2008 document remains, the Chaska Herald reports that Southwest Transit shifted it to East Creek. Perhaps the template should be adjusted. It can't be that hard; the cost for developing the facility has more than doubled since 2008, while the construction workforce has exploded from 175 jobs in 2008 to 2,106, although though the square feet of the redesigned building and number of students served has not changed with the design.
The "professional community" and support staff working on the site has ballooned from 400 to 1,049, a growth rate that might make University of Minnesota administrators--scolded here in the Wall Street Journal--green with envy.
Perhaps investment through the new EB-5 center--which was registered between April 28 and May 11, 2015--can finally build 2008's vision of higher education.
NAHSR Board Chair Joseph Wang is Liberty Minnesota Regional Center Co-Chair
Watchdog's Steward reports that Joe Sperber, NAHSR CEO is also Liberty Minnesota owner. But there's another connection between the HSR group and the EB-5 center: Joseph Wang.
Following a data practices request, Heather Carlson reported in Private company seeks exclusive rights for high-speed rail:
The company estimates the project would cost $4.2 billion to build. A sizable amount of that money — $1.4 billion — would come from Chinese investors, according to the documents. North American High Speed Rail Group Chairman Joseph Wang formerly worked for China's Ministry of Commerce. The company's business plan states the Minnesota rail project would be "the first in the U.S. to leverage a relationship with China in the (high-speed rail) market."
Wang also serves as co-chairman of the Liberty Minnesota Regional Center, according to the Management Team page for the Liberty Regional Centers website, which provides a list of his skills, though it's a bit vague on specifics:
Joseph Wang is Co-Chairman of the Liberty Minnesota Regional Center.
Well-educated. He went to several top universities in the US and China.
Well-experienced. He served at US and China governments, universities and foreign business in China and American companies.
A successful entrepreneur. He founded and/or led several international companies.
A scholar. He holds professorship at many US and Chinese universities and has had several books in business published.
A friendly ambassador. He has developed good working relationship with politicians and business people in both the US and China and has make many cooperation and exchange possible. He has also helped hundreds of Chinese students enter American universities.
A keen volunteer. He serves on board of many non-profit organizations, and
A career planner. He has helped many people find jobs and settle down.
Jay Carter and David Kelley, two of Liberty Regional Centers team members, appear to have operated the company under the name Empyrean West.
Wang appears to be the CEO of Joseph Wang Enterprises, as well as a partner in Neos Discovery Capital LLC with David Melander. In April, Watchdog MN reported that Melander was Executive Vice President for International Relations for the private high speed rail group, Melander's Linked In profile can be viewed online.
Infolink International Educational Institute, another one of Wang's efforts, runs international study programs with Qingdao and Shandong Universities and the University of St. Thomas, as well as a short term semester at the University of Minnesota's China Center called the Education for a Global Citizen Training Program.
According to an enrollment agreement online at the University of St. Thomas, Infolink is "a subsidiary of Joseph Wang Enterprises, Inc." Joseph Wang Enterprises, Inc has been a corporation operating in California since 1999 (search portal here).
Questions about capacity
Post Bulletin staff writer Josh Moniz reported in Irreconcilable: Anti-rail group redoubles efforts that those attending a Citizens Concerned About Rail Line (CCARL) expressed concerns about ownership of high-speed rail line by a foreign government:
Several members expressed serious concern that a U.S. infrastructure project would involve Chinese investors. When asked, Meadley confirmed Chinese government funds will be part of the possible funding, but added that planners sought funding from several sovereign funds.
"I think it's a very, very, very legitimate concern, and I'll leave it at that," Drazkowski said.
Earlier in the meeting, he said any issues with air rights leasing would be compounded if they were controlled by a foreign government.
Given the slump in the Chinese economy and the recent disclosure of hacking in Minnesota by Chinese cyber spies, the reservations about foreign ownership should not be dismissed as mere xenophobia on the part of the residents of Pine Island.
Indeed, the chief concern of many residents long has been that they end up paying for a train that doesn't serve their communities--it's a revolt against taxation without transportation. Bluestem is left wondering whether this group of private business people--we noted some issues that CEO Sperber had experienced in our post, Who's got a ticket to ride on private Zip Rail?--that we wonder whether this group business cronies has the capacity to pull off this deal, the EdCampus development and the World's Fair.
The details are lacking. When did Joseph Wang work for China's Ministry of Culture? What successful projects has the Empyrean West/Liberty Regional Center completed? Who foots the bill if all or part of the line gets built and the company goes bust?
While their virtues many be many, these folks don't strike Bluestem as the second coming of Dagney Taggart. More transparency and less Minnesota Shiny Object Syndrome would be go a long way on the short line from the Twin Cities to Rochester.
Photo: An elevated high speed train in China. A shiny thing that would never stop in Pine Island.
Earlier Bluestem posts on the Ziprail/Private High Speed Rail line
Modest proposals: residents in path of Zip Rail break out new-fashioned pitchforks & torches
Will Steve Drazkowski's constituents get on board with Zip Rail if it's a private railroad?
Who's got a ticket to ride on private Zip Rail?
California HSR may have head start on Zip Rail for Chinese government's model train funding
A shiny thing! Zip rail advocate's argument about uniqueness might not be all that appealing
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