Small San Francisco Law Firm Haas & Najarian Delivers Big Results; Haas & Najarian, LLP Assists Rim Hotel Group, LLC in Portfolio Sale of Seven Hotels

Business Wire, August 19, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO -- When Rim Hotel Group LLC (RHG) decided to obtain legal counsel to assist in the sale of its seven-hotel portfolio, it chose Rob Nicholas, a Partner of San Francisco-based Haas & Najarian, LLP.

Motivated by favorable market conditions, RHG decided to sell the Auburn Holiday Inn, Sacramento Courtyard by Marriott, Vacaville Courtyard by Marriott, Modesto Courtyard by Marriott, Santa Rosa Courtyard by Marriott, Sonora Best Western, and the Port Huememe Country Inn & Suites. All of the properties are market leaders in their respective geographical locations with RevPars in excess of 100% compared to their competitive sets.

Both the Sacramento and Modesto hotels are on long-term ground leases, the former on land owned by the Regents of the University of California. Five of the hotels were encumbered by deeds of trust in favor of Nomura Asset Capital Corporation under a CMBS loan. In order to increase the value of the hotels to prospective buyers, RHG agreed to defease the Nomura loan, adding significant complexity to the transaction.

One of Mr. Nicholas' first duties was to participate in strategy sessions with RHG Asset Manager, Centerra Capital, and the RHG LLC Board of Directors, which ultimately led to the retention of Secured Capital Corp. to sell the portfolio and oversee the escrow and closing.

"It was a pleasure representing Rim Hotel Group in the disposition of its entire portfolio of hotels," said Mr. Nicholas. "We prepared and negotiated the purchase and sale agreement, negotiated with the various franchise companies (Marriott Hotels, InterContinental Hotels and Carlsen Hotels), prepared and negotiated the assignments of ground lease and ground lease estoppels, oversaw the defeasance process and got the entire deal closed with a little over one month from the execution of the purchase and sale agreement. There were a lot of moving parts, but our experience in selling hotels enabled us to get the job done on time and within budget."

DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners, a joint venture comprised of Credit Suisse First Boston and Windsor Capital Group, was chosen from a very competitive field of prospective buyers to purchase six of the seven hotel portfolio. The transaction closed just 30 days after the purchase and sale agreement was executed. Financial terms are not being disclosed. The buyers were represented by Michael Matkins and Karen Lawlor of Allen, Matkins, Leck Gamble & Mallory LLP, Century City office in Los Angeles, CA.

"Working on this transaction with Rob and his team at Haas & Najarian was a very positive experience," said Paul B. Draper, President of Centerra Capital Inc. "I had developed real confidence in Rob while working on earlier transactions and had no doubt that he was the right person to lead us through this large, complex transaction. Rob took the lead and aggressively managed the process to a successful, timely completion. I particularly liked the way he made us feel that we were his 'only' client throughout the process. His accessibility, organizational skills and attention to detail coupled with his vast hotel transaction experience gave us a very high comfort level."

Haas & Najarian has also participated in a number of other significant hotel transactions in recent years, including representing the buyer of the 1,368-room Westin Bonaventure in Los Angeles, CA, representing the buyer of the 783-room Ilikai Hotel in Honolulu, HI, and a number of other projects, such as the $14,000,000 makeover of the San Francisco Cliff House Restaurant.

About Centerra Capital

Centerra Capital, Inc., headed by Paul B. Draper, President and CEO, is a firm specializing in providing corporate finance and management advisory services to small and mid-size companies in Northern California. Centerra Capital also provides Asset Management services to the real estate industry.

About Haas & Najarian, LLC

Founded in 1973, Haas & Najarian (www.haasnaja.com) is a unique San Francisco law firm built around the following practice areas: government contracts, real estate, hospitality, construction, litigation, business law, employment law and estate planning.

The firm has purposely stayed small so that its clients have a one-on-one relationship with its chosen attorney, and know who is doing its work. The firm's collegial atmosphere and cross-disciplinary approach to practicing law enable its attorneys to share in the breadth of the firm's collective experience to fully represent its clients.