News Releases and Coverage for
Hall Structured Finance

As seen in Crittenden Hotel/Lodging News

January 2, 2006

Hall Financial will continue lending almost 80% of its estimated $100M annual budget toward hotel deals. Because the sector is flush with capital chasing deals, the Texas-based company will be looking to fund resorts and hotels in destination cities in the southern U.S. and the Caribbean. Expect to see them funding more predevelopment deals with bridge loans that allow developers to get an undeveloped parcel of land through the entitlement process.

Las month, Hall Financial, led by President Donald Braun, provided a $10.57M first mortgage to Landerhaven Hotel Venture, LLC, for the construction of a 123-room Staybridge Suites in Mayfield, Ohio. It is set to open Q4 2006. But deals for properties like this are getting harder to find. When it began lending in the hospitality sector shortly after 9/11, the competition was slim, and it only got slimmer. Hotel deals were at the bottom of the barrel, where they had been since Hall SVP Mike Jaynes started in the business. Now, hotel deals are floating along at the top and sourcing deals is getting tougher. In order to reach the goal of six to 10 deals yearly, Jaynes and fellow execs will be looking farther south for complicated deals where they can get creative, no matter how far into the capital stack they need to lend.

Development and acquisition of full-, limited-, and select-service hotels will still be on its radar for lending, but going for the big resort and destination hotel projects will help Hall diversify and compete. It does first mortgages from $6M to $60M, strictly mezz pieces from $2M to $20M and combo financing. Jaynes is looking to do more bridge lending up to 60% for developers to get property through entitlements, which can then be rolled into construction loans.