NATIONAL REPORT—Hotel Business is tracking the buying, selling and financing activity in the lodging industry. Here’s a look:
Minor Hotels Makes Strategic Investment in Global Hotel Alliance
Minor Hotels has taken a stake in the Global Hotel Alliance (GHA). As the GHA will enter its 15th year in 2019, Minor Hotels took the opportunity to support the alliance, which is currently investing in new CRM and shared technology to build on the Discovery loyalty program.
Following this shareholder announcement, Minor Hotels CEO Dillip Rajakarier will now join the GHA board of directors. The investment is worth a total of $3.2 million, representing a 10% share.
Rajakarier stated: “Since joining the GHA in 2007, we have grown and developed our own brands and continue to acquire new ones, and membership of GHA fits well with our multi-brand strategy. GHA has consistently demonstrated the value of global customer reach and a strong CRM and loyalty program for our hotels, and so we are delighted to be able to take our place as a shareholder in the business, with the opportunity to help guide its growth over the coming years.”
HREC Arranges Sale of The Atherton Hotel
HREC Investment Advisors has arranged the sale of the full-service 149-guestroom boutique Atherton Hotel in State College, PA. The property was acquired by AJ Capital Partners, a real estate developer, owner and operator, based out of Chicago. AJ Capital will renovate the hotel to convert it to Graduate State College, part of the Graduate Hotels collection.
HREC Investment Advisors represented Atherton Street Partnership during the transaction. The sale was negotiated by Ketan Patel, managing director in the Washington DC office.
Calmwater Capital Provides $61M for Banyan Cay Resort & Golf
Calmwater Capital, a national direct real estate lender, recently closed on a $61-million senior secured term loan to Banyan Cay Dev LLC and Noble House Associates LLC to refinance existing debt and finance construction of Banyan Cay Resort & Golf, located at the intersection of I-95 and State Road 704/Okeechobee Blvd. in West Palm Beach, FL.
The 138,000-sq.-ft. hotel resort is slated to be completed by November 2019. It will house 150 upscale guestrooms and suites, operated under the Noble House Hotels & Resorts brand, as well as 30,000-sq.-ft. of indoor/outdoor meeting space, an 18-hole, 130-acre Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course, a 20,000-sq.-ft. golf clubhouse, two restaurants, a spa, fitness center, pool, two-story parking garage, among other amenities.
Spirides Arranges $7.8M Con Loan for Holiday Inn Express in Rock Hill, SC
Spirides Hospitality Finance Company has arranged, and its client has closed, a $7.8-million construction and term first priority mortgage loan from a Southeast-based bank to finance the development of a new Holiday Inn Express in Rock Hill, SC.
The Holiday Inn Express will have 92 guestrooms and suites in a five-story building situated on 1.4 acres of land. It will be located at 680 Tinsley Way, just off of Interstate 77 at the Dave Lyle Boulevard exit, in the City of Rock Hill, York County, SC, which is part of the Charlotte, NC metropolitan area.
