Transactions

Hotel & Motel Management, Nov 1, 2004 by Jeff Higley

National Trust Historic Hotels of America added 17 new members to bring its total membership to 213 hotels. The new members for 2005 include: The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colo.; The Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington; Casa Marina in Jacksonville Beach, Fla.; Fountainebleau Hilton Resort in Miami Beach, Fla.; The Roberts Hotel in Muncie, Ind.; The Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore Hotel in Baltimore; Concord's Colonial Inn in Concord, Mass.; the Crowne Pointe Historic Inn & Spa in Provincetown, Mass.; the Island House Hotel in Mackinac Island, Mich.; the Crowne Plaza Quaker Square in Akron, Ohio; the Ashland Springs Hotel in Ashland, Ore.; Vanderbilt Hall in Newport, R.I.; the Providence (R.I.) Biltmore; The Beaufort (S.C.) Inn; the Sheraton Read House Hotel in Chattanooga, Tenn.; The Fairmount San Antonio; and The Davenport Hotel in Spokane, Wash.

Ashford Hospitality Trust closed its offering of 8.55-percent series A cumulative preferred stock at $25 per share. Underwriters exercised their over-allotment option to purchase 300,000 shares. In total, the company sold 2.3 million shares of the preferred stock, with net proceeds of $55.7 million. In a separate transaction, Ashford closed on an $11-million mezzanine loan to Inland Pacific LLC on The Westin Westminster (Colo.).

Financing

The Miami office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler arranged $32 million of acquisition and condo-hotel conversion financing for a 231-unit Doubletree Guest Suites in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. DSI Sunrise, the borrower, intents to convert the property to a condo-hotel.

San Diego-based Neptune Hospitality Advisors arranged first-mortgage $10-million financing for the purchase of the 120-room Hilton Garden Inn in Rancho Mirage, Calif. The hotel was acquired by American Property Management Corp. Morgan Niko also arranged financing for the deal.

Columbus, Ohio-based RockBridge Capital LLC closed a $7.88-million first-mortgage loan for the acquisition of the 130-room Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites in Milwaukee. The borrower is Magna Hospitality Group. In a separate transaction, Rockbridge closed a $20.3-million first mortgage for the acquisition and renovation of the 301-room Hilton Washington D.C./North Gaithersburg Hotel in Gaithersburg, Md. The sponsor is a joint venture between VEF Advisors LLC and Davidson Hotel Co.

Compiled by Jeff Higley, jhigley@advanstar.com