The Riverside City Council voted unanimously to approve the financing of MetroRiverside's Hyatt Place, which will be in the heart of Downtown, across from the Riverside Convention Center. MetroRiverside is scheduled to break ground this summer on the hotel, which is phase one of its two-block mixed-use project known as Fox Plaza. The hotel's opening is anticipated for first quarter 2012. The Hyatt Place will anchor the residential and retail components of Fox Plaza, scheduled to be under construction by 2015.

The Recovery Zone Facility Bond program is a new type of tax-exempt bond created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed by Congress in February, 2009. It is intended to spur private development in economically challenged areas.

The principals of MetroRiverside, LLC, Siavash Barmand and Mark Nicholson, pursued this unusual source of funding due to the lack of conventional financing options. "New construction financing is all but impossible these days," Barmand points out.

MetroRiverside LLC is a partnership of San Francisco Bay Area based MetroPacific Properties LLC and the Nicholson Co. MetroPacific is headed by Siavash Barmand and has over 25 years of experience in urban mixed-use development. The Nicholson Co. is headed by Mark Nicholson and is a family-owned business with over 50 years of experience in land entitlement, real estate development, general contracting and property management.

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