In NYC, crowd-funded projects are getting huge as company tries to finance a hotel

Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo are the current darlings of entrepreneurs, innovation gurus and businesspeople everywhere. Have a great idea, collect small sums from lots of people and voila! you're on your way to success. What's kept this model back from funding really big projects is the fact that funders can't actually be investors, as that would contravene securities laws and make accounting a mess. Now a New York City hotelier, Rodrigo Niño, is looking to raise $31 million in $100,000 increments for a new hotel project in Manhattan. The project is coming at a time when the United States Securities and Exchange Commission's is moving to lift the ban on soliciting investments by companies that aren’t registered with the SEC. Are we witnessing the beginning of major crowd-funded projects?