KANSAS CITY, KAN. — Block & Company Inc. Realtors has brokered the sale of a 2.7-acre pad site that will be home to a Homewood Suites by Hilton. The hotel will be part of Phase V of the Plaza at the Speedway development in Kansas City, which is an 850,000-square-foot retail power center. Baywood Hotels Inc. purchased the pad site located at 10922 Parallel Parkway. Tenants at the center include Walmart Supercenter, Sam’s Club, Kohl’s, Taco Bell, Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Chick-Fil-A, Jack in the Box, Wendy’s and Logan’s Roadhouse. David Block, Alex Block and Max Kosoglad of Block & Co. represented the seller, Plaza Speedway Development Inc., in the transaction.
HANOVER, MD. — The Cordish Companies has unveiled plans for a $200 million expansion at Maryland Live! Casino in Hanover. The expansion will include a 17-story, flagship Live! Hotel tower; an event center; meeting spaces; new dining options; a Live! Retail store; approximately 1,000 additional parking spaces; and a day spa and fitness center. The hotel will offer 310 luxury guest rooms, 52 of which will be suites. The Grand Event Center will feature a 1,500-seat concert venue with a built-in performance stage. The development’s event center will also offer flexible pre-function and meeting space, an executive boardroom and banquet seating capable of hosting up to 800 guests. New dining options will include a 24-hour café, a gelato bar and a signature lobby bar with more than 50 seats. Contractors, project architects and designers tapped by The Cordish Cos. for the project include Klai Juba Wald Architects, McLaren Engineering Group, Laurence Lee Associates, Cleo Design Corp., Selbert Perkins, Corsi & Associates, Lynne Curry Spa Consulting, Giovanetti Schulman Assoc. and EDSA. Tutor Perini Corp. will be the project’s general contractor. The project is expected to create approximately 400 new jobs and 550 construction jobs for the region, according to the developers. …
BOSTON — Chesapeake Lodging Trust has received a $150 million fixed-rate mortgage for the 502-room Hyatt Regency Boston, located at 1 Avenue de Lafayette in downtown Boston. Provided by MetLife, the 10-year loan features a 30-year amortization schedule. Chesapeake plans to use proceeds of the loan to repay outstanding borrowings under the trust’s revolving credit facility.
ORLANDO, FLA. — DiamondRock Hospitality Co. has sold the Orlando Airport Marriott Lakeside for approximately $67 million. The 485-room hotel is located at 7499 Augusta National Drive, roughly three miles from Orlando International Airport. The hotel features 29,700 square feet of event space, an indoor pool, outdoor pool, internet TV in every room offering Netflix and Hulu, the Crimson Tavern restaurant and a 24-hour fitness center. In 2015, the hotel generated revenue per available room (RevPAR) of $92, the lowest RevPAR in DiamondRock’s portfolio. DiamondRock Hospitality is a REIT that owns 28 upscale hotels spanning approximately 10,400 rooms.
LAGRANGE, GA. — Great Wolf Resorts Inc. has unveiled plans to open a new $150 million destination resort in La Grange, approximately 70 miles southwest of Atlanta, by 2018. The company has entered into a partnership with the state of Georgia and the City of LaGrange, but no other details of the partnership have been released. Great Wolf Lodge Georgia will offer 500,000 square feet of entertainment space. The centerpiece of the resort will be a 93,000-square-foot indoor water park that will include a multi-level treehouse, tipping water bucket, high-thrill water slides, a lazy river, wave pool, several zero depth entry pools and kids water play areas. The lodge will also include 456 rooms that will each accommodate at least five people. Rooms will include refrigerators, microwaves and coffee makers. Great Wolf Lodge will also offer kid-focused suites such as the Wolf Den and KidCabin, which will feature various themes and bunk beds. Other entertainment options will include a ropes course, climbing attraction, miniature golf, bowling alley, spas, dining options and numerous shows and programs. The lodge will also feature over 16,000 square feet of meeting and conference space with audio-visual technology and catering options. “Creating more than 600 jobs and …
BOSTON — National Real Estate Advisors and The HYM Investment Group have unveiled plans to redevelop the Government Center Garage into Bulfinch Crossing, a six-building, 2.9 million-square-foot mixed-use development in Boston’s Bulfinch Triangle. Spanning two city blocks, Bulfinch Crossing will be anchored by One Congress, a 1 million-square-foot office tower designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. At full build-out, the development will feature three mid-rise buildings, including a hotel-and-condo building, an office building and a multi-story retail property, surrounding a new public plaza on the eastern side of the parcel, and One Congress and two high-rise residential buildings on the west parcel. Expected to break ground later this year, the project’s first high-rise residential component, designed by CBT Architects, will consist of 486 units, including 64 designated as affordable housing. In total, the mixed-use development will include 812 residential units, 196 hotel rooms, 1.15 million square feet of office space and 85,000 square feet of new retail space. Additionally, the property will feature a 1-acre rooftop amenity on the west parcel and a more than 1-acre public plaza on the east parcel. At completion of the overall redevelopment, the remaining portions of the existing garage will contain approximately 1,100 parking spaces …
CLEARWATER BEACH, FLA. — BankUnited has provided a $41.8 million loan for Sheraton Sand Key Resort, a 390-room, beachfront hotel in Clearwater Beach, a town in Pinellas County fronting the Gulf of Mexico. The resort-style hotel is situated on 21.1 acres at 1160 Gulf Blvd. in Clearwater Beach, which TripAdvisor ranked as the No. 1 beach in the United States for 2016. The nine-story property features 24,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space, an outdoor pool, fitness center, spa, tennis and beach volleyball courts, whirlpool, gift shop and five dining options including Rusty’s Bistro, Island Grille, Poolside Café and Mainstay Tavern. Daniel Peek, Scott Wadler, Preston Reid and Alexandra Lalos of HFF arranged the five-year, fixed-rate loan, which the borrower is using to refinance an existing loan.
SAN LEANDRO, CALIF. — Arbor Lodging Partners has purchased a 119-room Hilton Garden Inn Oakland/San Leandro for an undisclosed sum. The hotel is located at 510 Lewelling Blvd. The hotel features one food and beverage outlet, 1,100 square feet of flexible meeting space, a fitness center and an indoor pool. Arbor Lodging plans to invest more than $4 million to update the property. NVN Hotels will manage the asset. JLL’s Mark Fraioli and Melvin Chu represented the seller, a consortium between Cypress Hospitality, KYD and Cornerstone Hotel Group, in this transaction.
TUSCALOOSA, ALA. — The Memphis office of Financial Federal Bank has secured the $20 million refinancing of a 154-room Embassy Suites hotel in Tuscaloosa. Financial Federal Bank arranged the loan through an unnamed life insurance company on behalf of the borrower.
ALPHARETTA, GA. — A public-private partnership involving North American Properties (NAP), Long Wharf Real Estate Partners, Stormont Hospitality Group and the city of Alpharetta will break ground tomorrow on The Hotel at Avalon and the connecting 65,000-square-foot Alpharetta Conference Center. The $112 million project will anchor Phase II of the 86-acre Avalon mixed-use development. The 330-bed hotel will be part of Marriott International’s Autograph Collection and will feature a local chef-driven restaurant, 24-hour fitness center, upscale pool, valet service and Club Avalon Concierge. The conference center will feature a 12,500-square-foot exhibit hall, 10,000-square-foot ballroom with six salons, six meeting rooms, boardroom, reception area, pre-function space and outdoor venues. The hotel and conference center are set to open in January 2018. The design team includes architect Cooper Carry and general contractor Brasfield & Gorrie. SunTrust Bank is providing construction financing, and HEI Hotels & Resorts will serve as the manager of the new hotel.