THE WOODLANDS, TEXAS — Hyatt Hotels Corp. and developer New Horizons Hospitality have opened the new 146-room Hyatt Place Houston/The Woodlands. The third Hyatt Place in the Houston metro area, the property includes a 24-hour fitness center, a coffee-to-cocktails bar and more than 6,100 square feet of meeting space. The location is in proximity to attractions such as the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, Woodlands Mall, Market Street and Woodlands Waterway, as well as several corporate campuses.
EDNA, TEXAS — BMC Capital has arranged a $2.3 million cash-out refinance loan for the 43-unit Best Western Inn in Edna, approximately 25 miles east of Victoria on the Gulf Coast. The property, which features complimentary breakfast, high-speed internet and a swimming pool, is in close proximity to Lake Texana, as well as the facilities of Formosa Plastic Corp. The two-year loan includes a fixed rate of 8 percent and a 25-year amortization schedule. James Tennial of BMC arranged the terms through one of the firm’s correspondent lenders.
DALLAS — Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) Hotels has brokered the sale of a 130-suite Hilton Homewood Suites in downtown Dallas. Transformed from an office building, the 10-story property includes amenities not typically found in hotels such as a half basketball court, golf simulator room, video game room and billiard room. The hotel, which is located on the northeast corner of North Griffin and Elm streets, also features eight meeting rooms totaling 4,412 square feet, an exercise room, indoor swimming pool and parking garage. Access to the Dallas Area Rapid Transit light rail line, city bus route and Woodall Rodgers Freeway provide accessibility for the asset. Rick Besse, Bhavesh Patel and Sam Winterbottom of NGKF represented the seller, Lowen 1025 Elm LP, in the transaction.
SAN DIEGO – Trigild has taken over a portfolio of five franchised hotels throughout California. This includes three Marriotts, a Best Western and a Holiday Inn Express. Trigild was appointed receiver of the hotels by the Superior Court of California, County of Monterey. The firm will take possession of the hotels and will manage their daily operations while legal action is pending. The hotels included in the court-appointed receivership include the 139-room Courtyard Marriott in San Luis Obispo; the 93-room TownePlace Suites/Thousand Oaks and the 120-room Courtyard Marriott in Thousand Oaks; and the 120-room Best Western Valencia and the 118-room Holiday Inn Express Valencia in Valencia.
NEW ORLEANS — Lowe Enterprise Investors has acquired the Royal St. Charles, a 143-room hotel in New Orleans, on behalf of an investment client. The hotel is located at 135. St. Charles Ave., between the city’s French Quarter and the New Orleans Convention Center. Destination Hotels & Resorts, an affiliate of Lowe Enterprise Investors, will manage the property as an independent, boutique hotel. The 10-story hotel features 2,610 square feet of meeting space, a fitness center and a PJ’s Coffee and Café eatery. The hotel also features balconies overlooking St. Charles Avenue, which is on the primary Mardi Gras parade route. Russell Munn of Lowe Enterprise Investors and Rick Rush of Lowe Hospitality Group led the acquisition team in the transaction. Larry Wolfe and Adam Etra of Eastdil Secured represented the seller, a joint venture between Clearview Hotel Capital and WHI Real Estate Partners.
BRYAN, TEXAS — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the sale of a 100-room Best Western Premier hotel in Bryan. Located at 1920 Austin’s Colony Parkway in the heart of the Brazos Valley, the property offers proximity to State Highway 6, FM 158 and Texas A&M University. Marty Cohan and Douglas Cole of Marcus & Millichap represented the buyer, an Hermosa Beach, Calif.-based private investment firm completing a 1031 tax-deferred exchange. David Greenberg, Alan Miller and Chris Gomes of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, a Texas-based private investment company. Anita Paryani Rice and Jake Roberts of Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp. arranged the acquisition financing.
HOUSTON — McCarthy Building Cos. has broken ground on the new 325-room Hyatt Regency Hotel in Houston’s Galleria submarket. Located at the corner of Sage Road and West Alabama Street, the property will stand 14 stories totaling more than 260,000 square feet. Amenities will include a fitness center, swimming pool and 15,000 square feet of meeting space. Construction, which is slated for completion in summer 2015, entails the partial demolition of pre-existing retail space. A partnership between Songy HighRoads and Carlyle Group is developing the hotel, and Gensler provided design services.
MIAMI — CBRE has arranged $38 million in financing for the Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites by Hilton in Miami. The 189-room Hilton Garden Inn and the 124-room Homewood Suites are located at the intersection of Palmetto Expressway and N.W. 36th Street, less than one mile from Miami International Airport. Jonathan Rice of CBRE Hotels | Finance and David Borge of CBRE Capital Markets Debt & Equity Finance arranged the loan on behalf of the borrower, Economos Properties.
NEW YORK CITY — Blackstone Real Estate Advisors LP has secured $186 million in acquisition financing for a 15-property, select-service hotel portfolio on the East Coast. Deutsche Bank provided the five-year, floating-rate loan. The portfolio includes 1,642 rooms that are located in Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Delaware. Peter Nicoletti, executive managing director, and Mathew Comfort, managing director, along with Dustin Stolly and Bill Grice, executive vice presidents, led the Jones Lang LaSalle team, which arranged the financing. “The portfolio benefits from superior sponsorship that provided a significant equity investment of nearly $50 million, as well as their global brand recognition,” says Comfort. “In addition to the strong in-place cash flow, there is limited new supply in each market, which will bolster the portfolio’s performance going forward.”
LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA, FLA. — CBRE has arranged the $17 milllion sale of the 147-room Lauderdale Beachside Hotel, located at 4660 N. Ocean Drive in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, a town north of downtown Fort Lauderdale in Florida’s Broward County. Florida Development Group purchased the hotel, which features two swimming pools, 150 feet of beachfront access, a restaurant and tiki bar on the sand. The Miami-based CBRE Hotels team involved in the transaction include Christian Charre, Robert Taylor, Paul Weimer and Natalie Castillo. Ken Pearson and Chris Shamaly of CBRE’s Dallas office managed the sales process on behalf of Maria Yip, the Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Trustee for Ocean 4660 LLC. The asset was once subject to foreclosure but filed for bankruptcy protection instead. CBRE worked closely with the trustee’s legal counsel, Drew Dilworth of Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson, P.A. in Miami.