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Someone asked this question
"Suppose that I am a newly approved RC, and find a piece of property that I want to purchase to develop or redevelop as my first project. Can I use the investors fund to buy the land or the building and pay for other costs related to this project, such as closing costs, inspection reports and appraisal fees? Would jobs created by tenants count? I am really referring to the jobs created by the tenants after the improvement is completed. The tricky part of this situation is that the tenant owns the improvement and creates the job, the investor only owns the land."
In this scenario, the investors' funds are spent towards completion of a building, and tenants would spend their own moneys for improvements and creation of jobs.
Again, my feeling is "yes, if the RC investment structure" allows such investment structure. But like I say, EB-5 law is whatever USCIS says it is, so I guess you have to try and see.
But if it is the tenant who pays for the cost of the construction and tenant improvement, will the USCIS still credit the job creation (employees of the tenant) to the investor?
In theory, it "should" work IF the RC investment structure allows this kinds of projects. However, without any USCIS pre-investment review system in place or a USCIS guidance memo on point, it's anyone's guess. This is the kind of problems that discourage motivated business-minded people who want to obey law and do projects to achieve win-win-win results.
Although USCIS could change its collective mind, it's fairly well settled -- because of approval of a few regional centers applications using the "retail shopping center" business plan -- that tenant-created jobs are "direct jobs" for purposes of 8 CFR 204.6(j).