Los Angeles, CA, April 13, 2005 - Sonnenblick-Eichner Company announced
today that they have arranged a combined total of $68,500,000 in financing
for two distinct hotel properties in California, both located in renowned
tourist destination cities.
Sonnenblick-Eichner
Company arranged $46.5 million in first mortgage leasehold and mezzanine
financing for the Sheraton Anaheim Hotel at The Anaheim Resort within the
Anaheim Resort district in Anaheim, California. Currently operating
as a Coast-branded hotel, the 500-room,13-story, full-service, hotel will
be completely renovated, repositioned and re-branded as a Sheraton, which
will benefit from its affiliation with Starwood Hotel & Resorts Worldwide
(NYSE: HOT), the largest hotel company in the world.
The 30-year old property, encumbered by a long-term unsubordinated ground
lease with the city of Anaheim, will be completely renovated at a cost
of approximately $60,000 per room. The renovation will include improvements
to the exterior of the building, and a complete refurbishment of the guestrooms,
bathrooms, and restaurants. The meeting space will be renovated with
the addition of approximately 7,200 square feet. Upon completion,
The Sheraton Anaheim Resort Hotel will be a full service hotel featuring
490 fully renovated guestrooms, including a club lounge floor; 24,000 square
feet of state-of-the-art meeting and banquet facilities; new restaurant
and lounge; upgraded lobby and main entrance; new porte cochère,
façade, and street-side landscaping; and executive business center.
Completion of construction is expected in mid 2006, when the property will
be repositioned as the newest AAA 3-Diamond, full-service hotel in Anaheim.
The hotel will remain open during renovation.
Elliot Eichner, a principal of Sonnenblick-Eichner Company commented,
�This renovation loan makes it possible to reposition the hotel as one
of the premier resort properties in the Anaheim market. We were able
to secure non-recourse leasehold financing which represents approximately
85% of the total project costs. The financing was provided by one
source, a Wall Street investment bank.�
Patrick Brown, also a principal of Sonnenblick-Eichner Company, added,
�We had a tremendous amount of interest in this transaction due to the
compelling upside in the turn-around and that the all-in cost of the project
will be significantly below replacement cost.�
The hotel will benefit from its location one block north of the world-famous
Disneyland Theme Park, Downtown Disney, and the recently completed $1.4
billion California Adventure Theme Park. The hotel is also one block
away from the recently renovated and expanded 1.6 million square-foot Anaheim
Convention Center, the largest convention center on the West Coast.
In a separate transaction, Sonnenblick-Eichner Company arranged $22
million in first mortgage financing for the Coast Santa Cruz Hotel in Santa
Cruz, California. The 10-story, 163-room, full service hotel is located
on the beach next to the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf and Santa Cruz Boardwalk.
The property is the only full service hotel situated directly on the beach
in Santa Cruz, a city which draws approximately 3 million visitors per
year.
Mr. Eichner commented, �The borrower was able to take advantage of the
extremely attractive interest rates and tighter spreads on well-seasoned
hotels. Given the Coast Santa Cruz Hotel�s consistently successful
history of operations and its one-of-a-kind location, we had significant
interest from institutional lenders on this financing.�
Santa Cruz, California, located 30-minutes from Silicon Valley and one
hour south of San Francisco, is world-renowned for its beaches and competitive
surfing, entertainment, dining, wineries, and other recreational amenities.
The Coast Santa Cruz Hotel is the only hotel located on the beach from
San Francisco to Monterey and offers its guests panoramic views of Monterey
Bay.
About Sonnenblick-Eichner Company
Sonnenblick-Eichner Company, based in Los Angeles, specializes in arranging
structured finance for acquisition, construction and permanent loans, interim
and mezzanine financing as well as joint-venture equity transactions.
The company is recognized for its expertise in marketing institutional
real estate for sale and providing capital for all product types including
retail, office, hospitality, industrial and multifamily.
|