NEW YORK CITY-Jones Lang LaSalle and Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels said Friday they had closed a $92.5-million senior loan on the 460-key Hilton Times Square. Sunstone Hotel Investors’ existing loan on the property was set to mature next month.

Matthew Comfort, SVP for real estate investment banking at JLL, says in a release the loan will be used to repay the existing $81-million debt, which carries an interest rate of 5.95%. The new 10-year fixed rate through Bank of America Merrill Lynch has an interest rate below 5%.

JLL Hotels EVP Jeffrey Davis says in a release that the refinancing provides “a true indication that lenders are actively seeking to place debt on high-quality, well-located hotels. The Hilton Times Square is a trophy hotel asset located in the heart of Times Square within the top lodging market in the country with solid sponsorship in Sunstone Hotel Investors. As such, it garnered a great deal of attention from potential lenders.” Davis and Comfort led the JLL team on the deal.

The announcement on the Hilton Times Square loan occurs at the end of a week that has seen other reports of increased confidence in the lodging sector, which had been hit especially hard by the downturn. Within the Manhattan market, Hyatt Hotels signed separate deals with Hersha Hotel and Extell Development for new properties to open in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Irving, TX-based Felcor Lodging Trust reported a RevPAR increase across its portfolio for the third quarter, and in a report on CMBS delinquencies, Fitch Ratings noted that the delinquency rate for hospitality properties fell dramatically last month.