Transaction Description: George Smith Partners placed a $115,000,000 non-recourse senior construction loan for the ground up development of a 326-key four-star Radisson BLU Hotel in Anaheim, CA. The Property is located in the Disneyland/Anaheim Convention Center submarket less than 1 mile from Disneyland Park. Once completed, the 12 story luxury hotel will be one of the few four star offerings available outside the Park and will feature an innovative, modern design. The amenity rich property will include a rooftop pool and deck with unobstructed views of the famous Disneyland nightly fireworks show and surrounding area. Catering to the Park-going family travelers, bunkbeds will be included in over half the rooms, and the hotel will feature a ground floor pool as well as upscale food and beverage offerings.
Challenges: The Project will be the first major development east of Interstate 5 in the Disneyland submarket. Additionally, the Hotel is slated to be the 4th Radisson BLU in the United States and will be one of the first four-star offerings available outside of the Disneyland Park.
Solutions: GSP focused on the submarket’s underlying fundamentals, including 28 million annual visitors, as well as its resilient occupancy rates and average daily rates that stayed relatively consistent through the recession. GSP also demonstrated that the Hotel is likely to capture an outsize share of the submarket’s 4 million annual international visitors. This is due to Radisson’s strong international branding supported by the fact that nearly all 300 Radisson BLUs are located outside the United States. Finally, GSP highlighted the Hotel’s upscale nature, which currently does not exist outside the Park, family friendly design and strong amenity package.
These efforts resulted in a high leverage, non-recourse execution.
- All terms are confidential.
