In one of the largest single hotel property financings this year, Madison Realty Capital provided a $315.6 million loan for the completion of the renovation at the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences in New Orleans.
Carpenter & Co. and Woodward Interests are redeveloping the former national World Trade Center office building into a Four Seasons Private Residences.
Located at 2 Canal St. on the Mississippi River waterfront adjacent to the French Quarter, the project will consist of 401 hotel rooms and suites, as well as approximately 88 private residences on the building’s upper floors.
The Four Seasons New Orleans is well positioned “to capitalize on the demand from New Orleans’ robust tourism market and expanding business district,” Josh Zegen, managing principal and co-founder of Madison Realty, said in a statement.
The French Quarter is among the largest U.S. hotel markets and contains around 28,000 rooms spread across some 160 properties, according to CoStar data. Twelve-month revenue per available room was up sharply as of August, climbing at a 130% year-over-year rate.
Operated by Four Seasons, the condominium residences at the Four Seasons New Orleans have a private entrance from the hotel and offer one- to three-bedroom units and four-bedroom penthouses. To date, the property has sold 50% of the condos, according to Madison Realty.
Terms of the loan were not disclosed.
Madison Realty has considerable experience investing in Four Seasons hotels. Other notable transactions include a $210 million loan to Fort Partners for the construction of the Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and a $105 million loan to Fort Partners for the acquisition and modernization of the Four Seasons Hotel Miami.
The hospitality sector has seen only a handful of major single-property financings this year — all of them in markets far larger than New Orleans, according to a search of CoStar data.
In April, Citi Real Estate Funding, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America teamed up on a $900 million refinancing of The Boca Raton resort and club, a 1,047-room luxury vacation property in Boca Raton, Florida.
In May, Citi Real Estate Funding, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley provided $3 billion in financing for Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust’s $4 billion purchase of The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.
Also in May, a private lender provided $320.5 million to refinance the 795-room Crowne Plaza Times Square Manhattan.
For the Record
Riaz Cassum and Henry Schaffer from JLL Capital Markets arranged the financing.