Hospitality

By Brian Morrissey, Esq. and Lisa Stuckey, Esq. of Ragsdale Beals Seigler Patterson & Gray LLP Few commercial properties emerged with unscathed values from the harsh economic climate of 2020. Yet Georgia and many jurisdictions like it valued commercial real estate for property taxation that year with a valuation date of Jan. 1, 2020 — nearly three months before COVID-19 thrust the U.S. economy into turmoil. This means governments taxed commercial properties for all of 2020 on values that ignored the severe economic consequences those properties endured for more than 75 percent of the calendar year. When property owners begin to receive notices of 2021 assessments, which Georgia assessors typically mail out in April through June each year, property owners can at last seek to lighten their tax burden by arguing for reduced assessments. The pandemic hurt some real estate types more than others, however, and with both short-term effects and some that may continue to depress asset values for years. For taxpayers contesting their assessments, the challenge will be to show the combination of COVID-19 consequences affecting their property, and the extent of resulting value losses. The experiences of 2020 can serve as a roadmap for valuations in the …

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail

ST. LOUIS — Midas Construction is building an AC Hotel in the Central West End of St. Louis. The seven-story, 192-room hotel is located at 215 York Ave. Construction costs total $26.4 million. Completion is slated for the fourth quarter of this year. Project developers include Concord Hospitality, Koplar Properties and Homebase Partners. The hotel is being built on a site formerly occupied by the KPLR television station, which was demolished in December 2019. Midas is optimizing its construction process by using building information modeling and fabricating some components offsite. The project team includes ENGWorks, HDA Architects, Alper Audi, DeLuca Plumbing, McClure Engineering, Eisen Group and DLR Group. This is the first hotel project in the Central West End in nearly 20 years, according to Midas.

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail

NEW YORK CITY — Mortgage banking company Merchants Capital has arranged a $51 million construction loan and $28.4 million in Freddie Mac Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) to fund the redevelopment of Manhattan’s historic Park 79 hotel into an affordable housing property for seniors. The borrower and project developer, Fairstead, will oversee renovations that will reconfigure the seven-story building into 77 apartments along with multiple community spaces, including an indoor/outdoor community room, dining room and meeting rooms. Additional rehabilitation will be done throughout the building, including creation of a common dining and recreation room, social services offices and an outdoor garden area. Upon completion, the property will employ two full-time social service coordinators to work alongside residents in organizing community programming events. The hotel originally opened in 1899 as “The Indiana.” The redevelopment is expected to be complete in 2022.  

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail
Lions-Gate-Hotel-Sacramento-CA

SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — McClellan Business Park, a privately-owned, 3,000-acre mixed-use project in Sacramento, has acquired Lions Gate Hotel, located at 3410 Westover St. in McClellan Park, a census-designated place in Sacramento County. Oceanic Victorville LP, which owned the property since 2017, will remain under contract to operate the historic hotel. From 1938 to 2000, the 112-room asset served as military housing for McClellan Air Force Base. The property was renovated in 2019 and is adjacent to The Officer’s Club, a restaurant and event center also owned by McClellan Business Park. The hotel features a business center, room service, a swimming pool, ample parking and proximity to the Sacramento McClellan Airport.

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail
New York City

HAMILTON, N.J. —The value of commercial and multifamily construction starts in 2020 tumbled 20 percent to end the year at $193.4 billion, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. Within the top 20 metropolitan areas that the Hamilton-based research firm tracks, the fall was more severe as that group’s starts fell by 23 percent in value, or $111.1 billion. Overall, commercial real estate starts fell 26 percent in value to $104 billion, while multifamily building activity slid by 11 percent to $89.5 billion. Richard Branch, chief economist for Dodge Data, says that the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant negative impact on commercial and multifamily construction across the country with only a few markets seeing year-over-year increases in construction starts compared to 2019. “The construction sector will show signs of recovery in 2021, but, the road back to full recovery will be long and difficult. The effects of the pandemic on the U.S. economy and building markets will be felt for several years,” says Branch. “While some areas stabilized over the summer, the current wave of the virus has further hindered activity.” Only one metro area in Dodge Data’s top 10, Phoenix, reported a year-over increase in construction starts. The No. 7 …

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail

By Mike Mixer, Colliers International – Las Vegas At the beginning of 2020, Las Vegas was anything but ugly. Nevada’s economy was one of the fastest growing in the country. Unemployment was the lowest ever at 3.6 percent, while casinos reported three straight months of $1 billion in winnings. Then COVID came along and things got real ugly, real quick. The entire Las Vegas Strip was shut down, closed…on less than a day’s notice. The Las Vegas unemployment rate hit a staggering 34.2 percent. One out of three people in Las Vegas became unemployed in April 2020. Meanwhile, the last time the Strip was shut down was after the JFK assassination in 1963. The bad doesn’t look so bad compared to the ugly. As the year comes to a close, the Las Vegas Strip has reopened, but with fewer visitors. Low visitor demand hits hard in a city with more than 150,000 rooms. Las Vegas hotel occupancy has dropped from 90 percent down to 44 percent. Room rates have seen a milder drop this year, down only 6.77 percent (from $133 a night to $124 a night). The Las Vegas Gaming Market was also unlucky, especially without a robust convention …

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail
Laneways-Phase-II

HOUSTON — Australian development firm Caydon has launched Fitzroy Residences, a 32-story residential tower that represents Phase II of the company’s 2.5 million-square-foot Laneways mixed-use development in Houston. The building will house 191 condos ranging in size from 567 square feet for a studio unit to 2,243 square feet for a three-bedroom penthouse, as well as 190 hotel rooms that will be operated under the Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants brand. Residential amenities will include coworking spaces, a meditation room, yoga and fitness deck, two outdoor pools, fitness center and concierge services. Sales are underway, and construction is scheduled to begin over the summer and to be complete by the end of 2023. The entire Laneways project will ultimately span three city blocks and will also include retail and restaurant uses, as well as outdoor spaces.

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail

GAITHERSBURG, MD. — Alfred Weissman Real Estate LLC has completed the renovation of DoubleTree by Hilton Washington, D.C. North/ Gaithersburg, a 298-room hotel in Gaithersburg. The renovations included reconfiguring the lobby, introducing farm-to-table restaurant Knife & Fork, adding a Hertz car rental office on the premises and reconfiguring parking to eliminate certain parking restrictions. The developer also upgraded the hotel’s 16,356 square feet of meeting space with new vinyl flooring, carpeting and lighting. The hotel also features a 24/7 fitness center, pool and dry-cleaning services. Marshall Hotels & Resorts manages the property.

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail
Karl Finkelstein Valuation Valbridge

When the pandemic took hold and rents of commercial properties began to waver, many experts in the industry expected a flood of distressed properties to hit the market in mid- to late 2020. To date, however, that hasn’t happened to a large extent. Valuation firms assumed they would get busier as properties fell upon hard times. Karl Finkelstein is vice president of Business Development and senior managing director for Valbridge Property Advisors, an independent, commercial valuation and advisory services firm based in Naples, Fla. with 80 offices nationwide. Finkelstein spoke recently to REBusinessOnline and explains that while not many high-profile sales have happened, other factors have kept those in his area of the industry busy in recent times. Finkelstein covers likely outcomes for distressed properties in 2021 and which sectors are performing well. A flight to quality, low rates and a reevaluation of shifting pandemic timelines have meant that the valuation business has its work cut out for it. Asset Type Winners and Losers There isn’t much surprising in the list of property types experiencing difficulties at the moment. Lodging properties (especially those tied to conventions), fly-to resorts, urban retail and standalone restaurants (particularly those without drive-thrus) all experienced a …

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail

LITTLE TORCH KEY, FLA. — Sonnenblick-Eichner Co. has arranged a $30.5 million interim first mortgage loan for Little Palm Island Resort & Spa, a 30-unit hotel in Little Torch Key. The property is situated on a four-acre island 30 miles east of Key West. Mast Capital and RWN Management provided the loan to the undisclosed borrower. Amenities at the property include a fitness center, pool and oceanfront restaurant SpaTerre. The resort also has three boat docks that can accommodate up to 120-foot yachts. Elliott Eichner and Patrick Brown of Sonnenblick-Eichner arranged the loan on behalf of the borrower.

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail