The long-delayed downtown hotel project adjacent to the San Diego Padres' proposed new Ballpark has received $104 million in construction financing arranged by Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, one of the nation's leading commercial mortgage banking firms.

The hotel will fly the Omni flag and include 37 luxury condominiums. The 32-story four-star hotel, which will sit directly across Harbor Drive from the new Ballpark, is scheduled to open in two years in conjunction with the new home of the San Diego Padres.

A team of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler representatives that included Timothy D. Wright, senior managing director of the firm's San Diego office; Scott F. McMullin, senior managing director of the Los Angeles office, and Mark Gibson, executive managing director in the company's Dallas office, arranged the adjustable-rate, 48-month loan on behalf of San Diego-based JMI Realty, the project's developer.

A trio of lenders that includes Bank One NA, Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (WestLB) and San Diego Bank, provided funding. Holliday Fenoglio Fowler officials elaborated on the financing package late last week.

"The Sept. 11 attacks exacerbated what was already a very difficult financing market for hospitality development of any type," Wright says. The JMI transaction is the largest of just a handful of hotel loans to close in the U.S. since last fall. Since securing a commitment for this project more than a year ago, we have had to work through other delays as well, particularly the temporary suspension of construction of the adjacent ballpark."

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler's ability to draw on a depth of experience in hospitality finance was crucial in bringing lenders to the table that could accommodate the project's requirements, he says.

"We were looking for lenders whose underwriting and deal criteria most closely matched the characteristics of this development," McMullin says. "That meant calling on strong relationships within the lending community both locally and internationally to pull the financing package together."