Aries Conlon Capital's principal and CEO, Rushi Shah, closed on a $12.5 million bridge loan for the Crowne Plaza Chicago SW-Burr Ridge hotel near Chicago’s Midway International Airport. The 24-month, interest-only loan was arranged on behalf of borrower Vega Hospitality Group, and includes a 63 percent loan-to-value ratio.
Located at 300 S. Frontage Road in southwest suburban Burr Ridge, Ill., the 123-room, three-story hotel was previously a Quality Inn & Suites that had been fully-renovated and then reflagged as the IHG Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts brand. Although the gut rehab and conversion were complete and the borrower brought in Chesapeake Hospitality to manage the now open Crowne Plaza hotel, the property’s cash flow was not yet at sufficient levels to cover the total debt. This made refinancing almost impossible.
“Our long-time relationship and deal history with the borrower’s current lender, Access Point Financial, was integral to making this property financeable,” Shah said in a statement. “We brought a solution to Access Point, and they agreed to reduce the pay-off amount on the existing loan and become a subordinate lender for the held-back portion on the new loan. As a result, the borrower now has the funds to buy him time to execute his business plan. Once the property is stabilized, we will leverage our capital source relationships to refinance the bridge loan to non-recourse permanent debt, enable the borrower to recoup his investment cost as cash out, and take out Access Point at the same time.”
The Crowne Plaza Chicago SW-Burr Ridge has an 8,500-square-foot meeting/event space, an indoor pool, restaurant, fitness center and business center. Originally built in 1969, the hotel was closed for over a year for renovations. The property is currently open and operational under the Crowne Plaza flag.
"After years of hard work and determination to complete our project, we were very pleased with Rushi and his entire team and how they helped attain the financing needed. I look forward to working with them on future opportunities,” Sanjay Sukhramani of Vega Hospitality Group said in a statement.