$46M Finances New Hotel

GLENDALE, CA-Developers who plan a 272-room Embassy Suites here have landed a $46-million construction loan, according to Holliday Fenoglio Fowler. Mitch Paskover of the Los Angeles office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler arranged the financing on behalf of Los Angeles-based Kam Sang Co.The financing is a two-year, adjustable-rate loan with Commercial Capital Bank. Paskover notes that the loan, covering 74% of cost of construction, closed "within a very tight time frame" to meet the borrower's deadline. "The borrower was focused on timing, and the lender delivered a commitment within 10 days of signing the deal," Paskover says.Construction of the Embassy Suites is scheduled to begin this month. The property will consist of a 12-story structure above a three-level, 354-space parking garage.Hotel amenities will include a restaurant, a lounge, a deli, a gift shop, a whirlpool, a fitness room, a business center and a pool, plus 10,000 sf of meeting space. The site, now operating as a city parking lot, is at 800 N. Central Ave., close to the Ventura Freeway in Downtown Glendale.Paskover notes that the area where the Embassy Suites will be developed "historically has had a very strong hotel market fueled by high-end office and strong entertainment." The hotel is one of numerous commercial and residential projects either under way or planned in Glendale, where developers in recent years have introduced new multifamily, office, retail and mixed-use developments in primarily infill locations.The new Embassy Suites also reflects the growth in hotel construction throughout Los Angeles County, where the number of new rooms under construction climbed by nearly 70% in the first half of 2005, according to a report by Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality Group.The report showed that hotel construction has climbed throughout the state during the period surveyed, with some of the biggest gains in Southern California.