Stonehill Looks to Provide $500M in Hotel Financing in 2015

ATLANTA—Officials with locally-based Stonehill Strategic Capital, LLC say that the firm has established a target of $500 million in hotel financing deals this year.

The deal volume envisioned for this year follows up Stonehill's more than $150 million in 19 financing transactions, in 2014 that included bridge loans, permanent loans, mezzanine loans and preferred equity investments. SSC is an affiliate of Peachtree Hotel Group II, LLC.

SSC successfully closed $25 million in loans in December 2014 and an additional $65 million is under signed application scheduled to close in January or early February 2015.

“We exceeded our most optimistic forecasts during 2014, our first full year since inception, and set the stage for a very fruitful second year and beyond," says Mat Crosswy, president of SSC. “Adding a permanent loan product is an important milestone in our company's growth that directly complements the existing debt solutions we can provide our clients. This allows SSC to take a client through the entire life of an asset. By all measures, 2015 looks incredibly bright for both our company and the industry at large.”

SSC's affiliate closed on its hotel credit opportunity fund, Stonehill Strategic Hotel Credit Opportunity Fund, which will provide the capital to meet SSC's lending goals for 2015, the company states.

“Last year was huge in terms of portfolio and trophy property transactions,” Crosswy states. “However, in our niche of transactions between $5 and $20 million that tend to be focused outside the top 40 MSAs, we think there will be an increase in activity year-over-year. We're going to start to see the cusp of the pre-recession CMBS loan originations from 2005, and as those deals roll, owners will have to either refinance or sell depending on their desired long-term strategy. We anticipate that will be a prevalent scenario this year.”