BOSTON — HFF (NYSE: HF) has secured a $97 million construction loan for the development of a 330-room Aloft Hotel and a 180-room Element Hotel adjacent to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston’s Seaport District.
“The development of the Aloft and Element Hotels will add more than 500 hotel rooms to the immediate area,” says Anthony Cutone, HFF managing director, “providing a degree of relief to the undersupplied Boston hotel market and allowing the Boston Exhibition and Convention Center to more effectively compete for convention business.”
HFF worked on behalf of a venture between Ares Management LLC and CV Properties LLC to place the 42-month construction loan with RBS Citizens and Santander Bank N.A.
Cutone and senior real estate analyst Alan Suzuki led HFF’s debt placement team. Kevin Boyle, Chris Robie and John Fahy led Citizens’ team. George Brockman, director of commercial real estate, and Pete Olivier, senior commercial real estate banker, led Santander’s team.
The two hotels will be situated on a 3.1-acre site at 371-401 D Street in Boston’s Seaport District, leased from the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority. The Aloft Hotel will be a 13-story hotel with 325 guestrooms and five one-bedroom suites. Hotel amenities will include a gourmet eatery, fitness center, pool, outdoor entertainment area and 12,000 square feet of function space.
The Element Hotel will be designed for longer-stay travelers and will feature 180 guestrooms with fully equipped kitchens and flexible workspace. The six-story hotel will have studio suites, one-bedroom suites, standard king rooms and eight conference suites. Element Hotel amenities will include a pool and fitness center, a bike sharing program and meeting space.
Aloft and Element are two brands of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., a hotel and leisure company with nearly 1,200 properties in 100 countries. The company has 181,400 employees at its owned and managed properties.
HFF is a provider of commercial real estate and capital markets services to the U.S. commercial real estate industry that operates out of 22 offices nationwide.
The stock price of HFF Inc. closed at $35.73 per share on Monday, June 23, up from $17.46 per share on Friday, June 21, 2013.
— Scott Reid