The federal program that will provide a six-year $20 million loan at 5 percent interest for a $101 million convention center hotel near the Iowa Events Center is the subject of a lengthy article at National Real Estate Investor. The EB-5 program has been around since 1990, and in 2013, the Iowa Economic Development Authority established the Iowa Regional Center to find projects that could take advantage of the program, which provides permanent work visas for foreign nationals who invest in U.S. projects. IEDA receives a placement fee of 0.75 percent for every project that uses the program, which in the case of the Des Moines convention center hotel will tap an investment fund from the CMB Regional Center in Rock Island, Ill. CMB is an acronym for Closed Military Bases. In Des Moines, the program was used after institutional investors wanted returns of up to 25 percent.