FLORIDA, TENNESSEE AND NORTH CAROLINA — Sonnenblick-Eichner has arranged $60 million in financing for a seven property hotel portfolio in Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina on behalf of Cooper Hotels. The portfolio includes Crowne Plaza Fort Myers, Florida; Doubletree Memphis, Doubletree Murfreesboro, Doubletree Jackson, Doubletree Oak Ridge, and Doubletree Johnson City, all in Tennessee; and Homewood Suites Charlotte, North Carolina. The five-year, interest-only facility was priced at 250 bps. over Libor.
SAN ANTONIO — Development is under way for San Antonio’s second Hotel Indigo, located at 830 N. St. Mary’s on the San Antonio Riverwalk. Construction will consist of the conversion of a former Hawthorne Suites. Amenities at the 149-suite hotel will include a fitness center, a 24-hour business center, two meeting rooms, an outdoor pool with a courtyard patio and wireless Internet access throughout the hotel. The hotel is owned by RW Hotel Associates, and will be managed by Trans Inns Management through a license agreement with Atlanta-based InterContinental Hotels Group. Kraemer Design Group is serving as project architect. Completion is scheduled for this fall.
SUISUN CITY, CALIF. — Basin Street Hospitality, a division of Petaluma, Calif.-based Basin Street Properties, has broken ground for the construction of a Hampton Inn & Suites hotel in Suisun City. Located at Harbor Center Drive, the hotel will feature 102 rooms, an outdoor pool and spa, meeting rooms, complimentary hot breakfast, complimentary high-speed Internet access, flat-screen televisions, and the Hampton 100 percent satisfaction guarantee. Completion is slated for summer 2009.
NEW YORK CITY — McSam Hotel Group has acquired 6 Water St. in Manhattan, New York City for $56 million. The 8,300-square-foot site fronts three streets and will allow for 125,000 buildable square feet. The buyer plans to develop a 30- to 40-story boutique hotel at the site, which is also known as 32-38 Pearl St. Peter Hauspurg, Alan Miller, Jeffrey Troy, David Johnson and Ronda Rogovin of Eastern Consolidated represented the seller, Water & Pearl Land LLC/Water & Pearl Partners LLC, and Miller and Johnson procured the buyer in the transaction.
AVENTURA, FLA. — Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide is breaking ground on aloft Aventura Hotel, a $50 million property that will be developed and owned by joint venture partners Cabi Aventura Hotel, a subsidiary of Mexico-based GICSA, and Aventura Development. The hotel will feature 215 rooms and 5,000 square feet of meeting space. The property is located at 2777 N.E. 185th Street, near South Beach and the Miami International Airport. Construction is slated to complete next fall.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — SNS Hospitality has purchased Country Inn & Suites Charlotte, a 100-room hotel located in the University City area of Charlotte, from Philadelphia-based GF Management, for an undisclosed amount. The property features an indoor/outdoor swimming pool and 31 one-bedroom suites. Ros Mallory of Jones Lang LaSalle’s Charlotte office and Mark Fair and Al Calhoun of its Atlanta office were the sole brokers in the transaction and exclusively represented the seller.
PHILADELPHIA — Wachovia Bank has provided $50 million in financing for the redevelopment of the Architect’s Building located in Center City Philadelphia. Klimpton Hotels & Restaurants is redeveloping the building into The Hotel Palomar, a luxury 230-room boutique hotel. The hotel will feature amenities such as a ground-floor restaurant and bar, 6,500 square feet of meeting space and a 650-square-foot fitness center. The hotel is set within the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood at 117 S. 17th St., which offers a wide variety of shopping, dining and cultural activities for tourists. The hotel is scheduled for completion in late 2009.
IRVING, TEXAS — InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has plans for a project that will incorporate a new 150-room Crowne Plaza and a new 85-room Hotel Indigo in the Las Colinas community in Irving. The hotels, which are expected to open in 2010, will be developed in one building. Crowne Plaza and Hotel Indigo will have separate entrances but will share public areas such as the fitness center and the swimming pool. Platinum Hospitality LLC will own the hotels; Patriot Hospitality, under a license agreement with a company in IHG, will manage them.
MILWAUKEE — Oconomowoc, Wis.-based Milmark Hotel/Motel Investments has brokered the sale of a 192-room Hospitality Inn & Suites, located at 4400 S. 27th St. in Milwaukee, for $6.95 million. The buyer, SIDHIVINAYAK LLC, plans to implement a capital improvements program to the property. It will also re-flag one of the buildings on the property as a Rodeway Inn & Suites, while the other will remain a Hospitality Inn & Suites. Ronald McCord and Jennifer Church of Milmark negotiated the transaction. The property was sold by Graebner Enterprises.
LAS VEGAS — CityCenter has unveiled its plans for a resort casino, which is slated to open in late 2009. Designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, ARIRA Resort & Casino will feature two curvilinear glass towers, lush foliage, wood and stone elements, and a three-story lobby and casino. Additionally, the project will feature a variety of dining options, including bistros, cafés and world-renowned restaurants. Other features include lounges, bars, nightclubs, a spa, a full service salon, a barbershop, a deluxe fitness room and a group exercise studio. ARIRA will be the core of CityCenter, a more than $8 billion vertical city currently under construction between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts on the Las Vegas strip.