Foreigners and the Future of the Flats

The Flats East Bank project, a scheme devised to spruce up the much maligned downtown area, has been given a $20 million kick in the pants from forty international investors.

It's all part of a grand vision (and a $275 million plan) to build a hotel, office tower and retail space in the Flats. But some concern is being raised because foreign investors and their families can flip an investment visa into citizenship with far greater ease then conventional immigration methods.

The program is aimed to bring foreign investors into flailing American communties, and Eddy Zai, an international business consultant from Pepper Pike, is pitching the foreign investment program to potential financiers like it's the cure for cancer. But investors are taking interest, and maybe, at the very least, Zai has found a cure for crappy parts of town.