WESTERLY, PROVIDENCE AND WARWICK, R.I. — Rhode Island Commerce Corp. Board of Directors and Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo have approved more than $7 million in state relocation and redevelopment credits. Funding three projects, the economic development tools include $362,055 in tax credits under the Qualified Jobs Incentive Tax Credit Program to support company relocation and growth, $3 million for the first Tax Increment Financing agreement to support hotel development and $3.6 million Rebuild Rhode Island tax credits to fund the redevelopment of a historic property. Ivory Ella, a socially-minded online retailer, will receive the $362,055 for the relocation of 40 of its current jobs, 19 of which qualify under the Qualified Jobs Incentive Tax Credit program, from Connecticut to Westerly. Homewood Suites Hotels – Exchange Street LLC will receive $3 million for the construction of a $24.5 million 120-room hotel with ground-floor retail in downtown Providence. The board approved $3.6 million in Rebuild Rhode Island tax credits to support the adaptive reuse of a vacant historic mill complex along the Pawtuxet River in Warwick. The property will be redeveloped into a 200,000-square-foot mixed-use development, costing an estimated $34.6 million.
EVANSTON, ILL. — Developer and investment firm Janko Group LLC has opened the Hyatt House Chicago/Evanston, a 114-room, extended-stay hotel in downtown Evanston, approximately 20 miles north of Chicago. Janko Hospitality LLC will manage the eight-story hotel located at 1515 Chicago Ave. Amenities at the property include an indoor and outdoor lounge, a restaurant and bar, 1,300 square feet of meeting space, a fitness center, business center, laundry facility, free Wi-Fi and complimentary breakfast. Des Plaines, Ill.-based Peak Construction Corp. was the design/build firm for the project, and Chicago-based SCB Architecture served as the architect of record.
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A dual-branded Hyatt House-Hyatt Place hotel has opened in downtown Charleston’s historic district on Upper King Street. Atlanta-based Cooper Carry designed the mixed-use development that houses the dual-branded hotel. The project includes a 112-room Hyatt House hotel, 191-room Hyatt Place hotel, rooftop bar, conference center, 20,000 square feet of street-level retail space and a 400-space parking deck. Hyatt House Hyatt Place Charleston features a separate lobby for each brand, but the property shares amenities, including a pool, fitness center, room service, house keeping and operations. Regent/BN Charleston Holdings LLC, an entity including Atlanta-based Regent Partners LLC, Chicago-based GEM Realty and Charleston-based Clement Crawford & Thornhill Inc., is the developer of Hyatt House Hyatt Place Charleston.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — TJM Properties has acquired Crowne Plaza Syracuse, located at 701 E. Genesee St. in Syracuse, for an undisclosed price. The hotel offers 276 guest rooms and 12,243 square feet of conference space. The property will retain the Crowne Plaza flag and continue to offer all the amenities and incentive programs of the Crowne Plaza brand. The name of the seller was not released. This purchase is the latest expansion of the TJM Properties and its fourth hotel in the Northeast. TJM plans to add approximately three hotels per year to its growing portfolio.
LOS ANGELES — Simon Baron Development has acquired the ground lease on the 600-room Stay on Main Hotel in downtown Los Angeles for an undisclosed sum. The hotel is located at 640 S. Main St. Simon Baron plans to institute a capital improvement program and reposition the 170,000-square-foot property into a modern mixed-use facility. This acquisition is the developer’s first foray into the West Coast, and represents the firm’s first project in California. Ben Reznik of Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP represented Simon Baron in the deal. David Swartz of CGS3 represented Simon Baron in the ground lease. 248 Haynes Hotel Associates LLC was the seller. HKS Capital provided financial advisory services to Simon Baron.
FRISCO, TEXAS — Southside Bank will finance new development at Frisco Station, a 242-acre mixed-use development located along the Dallas North Tollway in Frisco. The bank will provide the Frisco Station Partnership, an investment entity composed of Hillwood, Rudman Partnership and Van Trust Real Estate, with a three-year revolving line of credit for constructing road, water, sewer and other utilities. Initial construction will begin in June and will include infrastructure to support office development along Warren Parkway. Frisco Station includes more than 5 million square feet of office space, 2,400 apartment units, food and beverage concepts, hotel and conference facilities and more than 250,000 square feet of retail space. Headquartered in Tyler, Texas, Southside Bank has $5.2 billion in assets and operates more than 60 banking facilities in Texas.
WHITE MARSH, MD. — Construction has begun on Greenleigh at Crossroads, a $750 million component of Baltimore Crossroads, a 1,000-acre mixed-use development in White Marsh in the eastern section of Baltimore County. The completed Greenleigh at Crossroads will contain 1,000 single-family homes and townhomes, 500 multifamily units, three mid-rise Class A office buildings spanning 300,000 square feet, 128,000 square feet of single-story office space, 116,000 square feet of retail and a 120-room SpringHill Suites by Marriott. The development team consists of St. John Properties, Somerset Construction Co. and Elm Street Development. “The integrated design of Greenleigh at Crossroads reflects and responds to the new urbanism trend that is sweeping the country, while also complementing the existing product mix that exists at Baltimore Crossroads,” says Edward St. John, chairman of St. John Properties. St. John Properties has broken ground on one of the office buildings, and should begin construction on the hotel in late 2016. Elm Street Development will soon begin building the single-family homes and townhomes, with models expected to open in spring 2017. Somerset Construction will begin work this fall on The Berkleigh, a luxury apartment community featuring 317 units. Located along Maryland Route 43 near I-95, Baltimore Crossroads is …
CAMBRIDGE, REVERE AND CONCORD, MASS. — KW Development has completed the sales of three hotels in the Boston metro area for a combined $71.5 million. The company sold the 121-key Best Western Plus Hotel Tria, located at 220 Alewife Brook Parkway in Cambridge, to an undisclosed buyer in February; the 180-room Four Points by Sheraton Boston Logan Airport, located at 407 Squire Road in Revere, sold in March; and the 105-key Best Western at Historic Concord, located at 740 Elm St. in Concord, sold in April. The properties were sold to three different undisclosed buyers. Additional details of the sales were not released. Denny Meikelham and Alan Suzuki of HFF represented KW in all three sales.
FREEPORT AND WATERVILLE, MAINE — GL Rogers & Co., through Pendleton Point LLC, has purchased the Hampton Inn Freeport and the Hampton Waterville, two hotels totaling 158 rooms in Freeport and Waterville. The Vickery Company sold the assets for $16.9 million. Located at 194 Lower Main St. in Freeport, Hampton Inn Freeport features 77 guest rooms, 312 square feet of function space, a business center, fitness room and indoor pool. Located at 425 Kennedy Memorial Drive in Waterville, Hampton Inn Waterville features 81 guest rooms, a fitness room, indoor pool and business center, as well as 1,850 square feet of function space. The buyer has retained Maine Course Hospitality Group to manage both hotel properties. Denny Meikleham and Alan Suzuki of HFF represented the seller in the transaction.
Extended-stay hotels had a very good start to 2016 as they maintained higher growth in revenue per available room (RevPAR) than the overall hotel industry, according to the Highland Group’s First Quarter U.S. Extended Stay Lodging report. Extended-stay demand continues to increase at about 5 percent quarterly, and there appears to be no significant change to that trend on the horizon, according to the report. Occupancy also remains high compared with historic averages and there is more than enough supply growth to accommodate increasing demand, the researchers conclude. However, the accelerating increase in supply is reducing occupancy, and for the first time in more than five years all three extended-stay segments reported a quarterly decline in occupancy. Overall extended-stay occupancy has now declined slightly for four consecutive quarters and is likely to continue declining throughout 2016. At the same time, room revenues are up more than 10 percent and gains in average daily rate (ADR) are strong enough to continue positively impacting RevPAR, which is up 3.5 percent year over year in the extended-stay sector. RevPAR grew at 2.7 percent for the hotel industry overall. There were 397,003 extended-stay hotel rooms open at the end of first quarter 2016, which is an increase of …