BALTIMORE—Red Lion Hotels Corp. officially launched its new brand Hotel RL at Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

The 130-room hotel,  an adaptive reuse of a 10-story property with a cut-stone façade, took in its first guest on Saturday. Red Lion acqired the property in December 2014 for $15.7 million and spent $3.5 million on renovations.

"Hotel RL is an urban lifestyle brand that will offer visitors a uniquely local experience and Baltimore is the perfect place to unveil this concept," says RLHC president and CEO Greg Mount in a prepared statement. 

PULSE by Gettys, a division of hospitaliy design firm The Gettys Group, advised RLHC in the conception of the new Hotel RL brand. The lobby features a seating concept called The Steps, which reproduces the feeling of a typical Pacific Northwestern coffee house, serving complimentary espresso to guests. The Steps will host live entertainment and interactive talks, Spokane, WA-based RLHC states.

 Hotel RL offers an app with airplane-style check-in experience, available in the app store that allows guests to choose their specific room, check in and download an electronic key. The typical hotel front desk is replaced by roving greeters with tablets. A kiosk in the lobby is available for guests that want a physical room key.

To commemorate the Hotel RL Baltimore Inner Harbor's grand opening, RLHC launched Project Wake Up Call, an effort aimed at raising funds and awareness to help combat homelessness by showcasing pictures taken by professional and amateur homeless photographers. Hotel RL will launch a similar, citywide initiative in each new city where it opens a hotel.

On April 28, RLHC announced that its subsidiary, RL Baltimore, LLC, had entered into a $13.3-million mortgage loan from PFP Holding Company IV LLC, an affiliate of Prime Finance, to refinance the purchase capital for its previously acquired Hotel RL Baltimore Inner Harbor.

Subsequent to the loan agreement, RLHC completed a joint venture agreement selling an initial 21% equity stake in RLS Balt Venture LLC, the parent to RL Baltimore, LLC, to Shelbourne Falcon Charm City Investors LLC. The loan and the joint venture agreement recapitalize the original purchase of the property by RL Baltimore and provide additional funds to complete the final renovations for this adaptive reuse project.

RLHC maintains a 79% interest in RLS Balt Venture LLC, with the remaining 21% purchased for $2 million by Shelbourne, an entity led by Shelbourne Capital LLC and including Falcon Investors, LLC, among other institutional real estate investors. Approximately $10.1 million in loan proceeds were funded initially with another $3.2 million available to complete the renovation of the hotel.

When it announced the financing deal, RLHC said it expected to complete a second equity sale as Shelbourne has the option during the remainder of 2015 to purchase an additional 24% interest in RLS Balt Venture LLC for approximately $2.3 million.