AFC Hotel Finance

AFC Hotel Finance secured $37.2 million in financing for five hotels: $9 million each for the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites-Elko (NV), the Hampton Inn & Suites-Savannah (GA) and the Holiday Inn Select-Winston-Salem (NC); $6.2 million for the Comfort Inn & Suites-Rawlins (WY); and $4 million for the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites-Weatherford (OK).

ALIS Awards

Individuals and companies earning awards of the year for 2007 at the recent Americas Lodging Investment Summit in Los Angeles were Arthur Adler, managing director and CEO, Americas for Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels (Jack A. Shaffer Financial Advisor); Blackstone Group's $26-billion acquisition of Hilton Hotels (2007 Merger & Acquisition); Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund for its $575-million purchase of the Maui Prince Hotel Makena (Single Asset Transaction); the $800-million MGM Grand Detroit (Development of the Year); and Stephen F. Bollenbach, former co-chairman and CEO of Hilton Hotels Corp. (ALIS Lifetime Achievement Award).

The Coast Hotel

The Orange County office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler (HFF) arranged a $25-million construction loan for The Coast Hotel, a 195-room, boutique waterfront hotel in Long Beach, CA. The three-year loan was secured through Merrill Lynch Mortgage Capital.

Comfort Inn Fort Lauderdale

The Aztec Group secured a $13-million first-mortgage loan for the 191-room Comfort Inn Airport/Cruise Port in Fort Lauderdale. The 10-year, fixed-rate loan was structured and closed in less than three months.

Crescent Hotels & Resorts

Washington, DC-based Crescent Hotels & Resorts plans to spend $600 million for hotel acquisitions this year with the equity raise of a second fund designed to eclipse the $400 million in Crescent's 2007 hotel real estate transactions. Crescent kicked off 2008 by adding four properties to its ownership/management portfolio.

Duane Street Hotel

Hersha Hospitality Trust paid Hersha Development Corp. $24.75 million in a deal involving mortgage financing, cash and stock for the Duane Street Hotel, a 45-room boutique property in New York City's Tribeca section. The new hotel is Hersha's second boutique property in New York. Hersha also paid Atlantic Court LLC $17.5 million for a “condominium interest” in “Nu Hotel,” a 93-room independent upscale project in Brooklyn, NY. “Nu Hotel” is set to open this fall.

MainStay Suites Charlotte

The 77-unit MainStay Suites of Charlotte, NC was sold to the Generation Companies of Raleigh, NC by the David Drye Co. Structuring the deal for the extended-stay property were Ed James and George Mumford of the Mumford Company's Newport News, VA headquarters.