CDA’s economic development analyst Carline B. Sablan said in an interview that the board approved Bridge Capital’s extension request.
The company’s new deadline to have its permanent office is now May 31, 2010.
It was the third time that Bridge Capital requested for an extension.
A financial services company temporarily holding its office at the Marina Heights in Puerto Rico, Bridge Capital was issued a qualifying certificate in Sept. 2006 and one of the conditions set by CDA was for the firm to establish a permanent office on island.
A qualifying certificate entitles the company to tax breaks.
Bridge Capital proposed to spend $1 million for its office on Saipan.
But before the Feb. 17, 2007 deadline, the firm requested CDA for an extension.
The new deadline became Feb 2009.
Last year, the company again requested CDA for another extension, and the new deadline was set for May 31, 2009.
Last March, Bridge Capital said it was looking around for a prospective permanent office.
But the CDA board denied another extension request due to the company’s failure to show that it would actually open a permanent office on island.
Last month, Bridge Capital showed CDA copies of a purchase agreement with a property owner and a renovation plan.
This, Sablan said, convinced CDA to again extend the deadline.
She said Bridge Capital’s tax breaks remain provisional.
It will become official only if the company secures from CDA a certificate of compliance.
CDA, Sablan said, is strictly implementing its compliance monitoring program to make sure investors that benefit from government tax breaks will keep their commitment.
