(Mark Your Calendars: RealShare HOTELS 2011, September 15 in New York City)

SPRINGFIELD, VA-A locally-based family that owns the Courtyard by Marriott Springfield has secured $17.5 million in non recourse financing from Northwestern Mutual Life. Jones Lang LaSalle’s Wes Boatwright, Jon Goldstein and Jim Gladden helped place the seven-year, fixed-rate financing on the 191-key property, owned by Regua Limited Partnership.

Life insurance appetite for hospitality has definitely returned to the DC area since the downturn, Goldstein tells GlobeSt.com. Still, some characteristics are the same post-recession. For example, as they were before the crisis, life insurance companies are more conservative in their underwriting for hospitality loans. In this case, the leverage was in the sub 50% range, Goldstein says. The owner refinanced the property in order to take advantage of the low interest rate environment, he adds. 

The building is approximately ten years old, encompassing 107,771-square feet. It is located at 6710 Commerce St., which is very close to the Franconia-Springfield Metro station. Other pluses to the property: there is a newly-renovated lobby, a new restaurant and convenience market, new fitness center and pool and nearly 2,200 square feet of meeting room space.

For these reasons life companies showed strong interest in the deal, Goldstein says. The hotel also benefits from the government contracting sector due to its close proximity to Fort Belvoir.  "Demand will only increase with the opening of the new 2.4-million-square-foot headquarters for the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, which is just down the road," he said in a prepared statement.