Meridian Capital Group Arranges $18 Million in Construction Financing for the Development of a Best Western and Sleep Inn in the Bronx, NY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Meridian Capital Group Arranges $18 Million in Construction Financing for the Development of a Best Western and Sleep Inn in the Bronx, NY

November 7, 2017, New York, NY – Meridian Capital Group, America’s most active dealmaker, arranged $18 million in construction financing for the development of a Best Western and Sleep Inn hotels, located in the Belmont neighborhood of the Bronx, on behalf of a prolific hotel developer. The 24-month construction loan, provided by a savings bank, features full-term interest-only payments. Meridian was able to arrange this financing with a lead bank and a participant bank structure. This financing was negotiated by Meridian Senior Vice President, Eli Finkel, and Vice President, Eli Serebrowski, who are both based in the company’s New York City headquarters. The Meridian team also recently arranged a $5 million construction loan for a ground-up hotel development in the Norwood area of the Bronx for the same hotel developer.

The Best Western and Sleep Inn site is planned to contain two side-by-side six-story hotels, totaling 176 keys. The property’s central location is in close proximity to some of New York’s most visited destinations. The Bronx Zoo, the largest metropolitan zoo in the United States, features more than 600 species, is located a short distance away. The zoo offers various experiential activities for their millions of annual visitors to get up-close with the more than 4,000 animals, ranging from sea lion feedings to camel rides. Additionally, the New York Botanical Garden, located adjacent to the zoo, is 250-acres of iconic garden grounds, including historic architecture and dozens of plant collections. The garden also serves as an educational institution to more than one million visitors annual, who come to learn about plant science, ecology, and healthful eating through the garden’s various programming activities.

“Meridian successfully arranged bank financing in a capital markets environment where banks are scaling back on ground-up construction, especially for hotel projects,” said Mr. Finkel. “By truly understanding the market and value creation strategy, in addition to the strength of the sponsor, we were able to effectively market this opportunity on behalf of the client and negotiate the required loan amount with a lead bank and participant bank.” Best Western International is an award-winning global brand of hotels located in over 100 countries. Similarly, Sleep Inn is a part of Choice Hotels International, an international hospitality holding corporation, with over 6,500 properties worldwide. Both companies have significant holdings throughout New York.

Founded in 1991, Meridian Capital Group is America’s most active dealmaker and one of the nation’s leading commercial real estate finance and investment sales firms. In 2016, Meridian closed $35 billion in loan volume and sold over $2 billion in commercial properties. Since inception, the company has closed more than $270 billion in financing with the full complement of capital providers, encompassing local, regional and national banks, CMBS lenders, agency lenders, mortgage REITs, life insurance companies, credit unions and private equity funds. Meridian represents many of the world’s leading real estate investors and developers and the company’s expansive platform has specialized practices for a broad array of property types including office, retail, multifamily, hotel, mixed-use, industrial, healthcare, student housing and self-storage properties. Meridian is headquartered in New York City with offices in New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, Ohio, Florida and California. www.meridiancapital.com