Hotels & Hospitality

Sullivan has deep experience representing owners, investors, lenders, managers and others in the hospitality industry. We assist our clients with numerous complex challenges, including mixed-use developments, ground lease transactions, multiple stakeholder arrangements and governance issues. We have particular experience advising hospitality Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) with a wide variety of financing, acquisition and disposition, tax and operational matters.

We focus on accomplishing client goals. Our hands-on, interdisciplinary approach provides our clients with efficient and effective service, and our experience is broad-based. Recent matters include assisting in the buying and selling of key assets, securing and negotiating debt and equity financings, workouts and restructurings of distressed assets, sales and acquisitions, and establishing joint ventures.

Since sound tax advice is often critical to the success of hospitality projects, our tax lawyers work closely with our Hotel & Hospitality Group. Sullivan’s Tax Group is one of the largest and most highly regarded on the East Coast.

Financings

• A major European bank in the financing of the following hotel properties:
  • Sheraton - acquisition loan of $71.4 million on a Sheraton Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia
  • Heritage New London - restructuring of an existing hospitality loan on a Holiday Inn in New London, Connecticut
  • Crowne Plaza Hotel - acquisition loan of $79.8 million and construction loan of $6.3 million on a Hilton Hotel in New York
  • Long Wharf Drive Hotel - mortgage loan on leasehold and fee interest in New Haven, Connecticut
  • Homewood Suites by Hilton - acquisition loan on a Homewood Suites in Alpharetta, Georgia

• A national lender in connection with a $40 million term loan with significant renovation requirements in San Diego, California
• A national lender in connection with a $46 million term loan financing secured by the hotel unit of a ground-leased condominium in Cambridge, Massachusetts
• A U.K. lender in the more than $500 million senior- and mezzanine-construction financing for a multi-phase luxury hotel/condominium/office development in White Plains, New York
• A lender in a $35 million hotel acquisition financing on a ground lease property and in its subsequent repositioning with a new owner
• A national lender in connection with the ground-up construction of a select service hotel in Durham, North Carolina
• A national lender in connection with the $25 million refinancing of an Embassy Suites in Waltham, Massachusetts

Acquisition and Development

• A publicly held REIT in the acquisition of a 348-room, full-service hotel located in Chicago, Illinois for approximately $85 million. This Wyndham Grand® branded hotel was added to a management agreement with a subsidiary of Wyndham Worldwide and certain rooms were leased to one of Wyndham's subsidiaries and became a part of Wyndham's vacation club
• A publicly held REIT in the acquisition of a 372-room, full-service hotel located in San Francisco, California for approximately $120 million. This hotel was leased to a subsidiary of Morgans Hotel Group
• A publicly held REIT in the acquisition of a 221-room, full-service hotel located in Portland, Oregon for approximately $108 million. This Monaco® branded hotel was added to a management agreement with a subsidiary of InterContinental Hotels Group
• A publicly held REIT in a $450 million sale/manage-back transaction of 13 hotels in six states, one Canadian province and Puerto Rico
• A publicly held hotel REIT in the $78 million acquisition of a multi-use development containing the only “five star” hotel in Baltimore
• The owners of the Nickelodeon Family Suites Hotel in Orlando, Florida in connection with the rebranding and recapitalization of the hotel and the subsequent sale of the clients’ interest in the project to a joint venture partner
• A public hotel company in connection with the acquisition of seven Hyatt® Summerfield Suites
• A developer in a project worth more than $100 million in land acquisition, development, construction and conversion to a condominium of mixed-use project in western Massachusetts, including hotel, office and retail uses
• An institutional investor in the acquisition of an interest in a hotel “racino” in New York’s Catskill Mountains
• An owner in connection with the acquisition of a boutique hotel in New York City, including the negotiation of an amendment to the existing ground lease
• A developer/borrower in connection with the ground leasing, development and financing of the first major hotel in Boston's Seaport District, including approximately $14 million in Section 108 financing from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and $64 million in leasehold mortgage financing from a major life insurance company
• A publicly held REIT in a sale-leaseback transaction with TravelCenters of America LLC in which our client agreed to acquire 19 travel centers and certain assets owned by TA at 11 travel centers for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $397 million
• A publicly held REIT in its acquisition of a portfolio of nine hotels located in eight different states for a purchase price of approximately $85 million, which are now managed by Sonesta International Hotels Corporation
• A publicly held REIT in the acquisition of a 364-room, full-service hotel located in Denver for approximately $77 million, excluding acquisition related costs. This Crowne Plaza® branded hotel was part of a management agreement with a subsidiary of InterContinental Hotels Group