Cronheim Hotel Capital Lends $45M on Nashville Hilton Hotel Project
By Mack Burke August 23, 2021 4:12 pm
reprints![A rendering of The Printing House Hotel, a Hilton Tapestry Collection hotel.](https://commercialobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2021/08/printing-house-hotel-e1629740668909.jpeg?quality=80&w=755)
Hotel lender Cronheim Hotel Capital (CHC) has originated $45 million in construction debt for developer Sun Companies’ development of a new Hilton-branded hotel in Downtown Nashville, according to information from the lender.
Indianapolis-based Sun Companies, armed with the construction financing, will now be able to move forward with development on The Printing House — a planned 180-key, Tapestry Collection by Hilton-branded property — at 501 Third Avenue South, located between the growing SoBro and Rutledge Hill neighborhoods in Midtown, near the heart of Downtown Nashville.
The project, Sun Companies’ second such venture in Downtown Nashville, is expected to open in the fourth quarter of next year, according to CHC.
“Hotel construction financing is extremely difficult in today’s environment,” CHC President David Turley said. “Not only were we able to provide construction financing for the project, we were able to do so without any need for the sponsor to raise additional equity, which allows them to retain 100 percent of the value creation from development.”
Sun Companies — a regular developer of large, branded hotels across the country — bought the roughly 0.6-acre lot, on which the 11-story hotel project will be erected, in the spring 2017 for just $4 million. The company’s plans will see 180 rooms, with views of Nashville’s cityscape, as well as ground-floor retail and three levels of parking, built on the parcel.
The project’s design — exteriors will be tackled by Indianapolis-based Ratio Architects and interiors will be handled by local firm Manuel Zeitlin Architects — was approved by Nashville’s Metro Development and Housing Agency Design Review Committee in April 2019, following a delay.
Earlier this year, the developer indicated that it was ready to move forward with the demolition of a former warehouse and distribution building that occupied the development site, the Nashville Post reported. And more recently, Sun Companies, which will serve as the general contractor, applied for permits to start on the building’s shell.
Sun Companies’ other Downtown Nashville hotel asset is the 117-suite Homewood Suites by Hilton hotel at 706 Church Street, which opened in December 2007.
Mack Burke can be reached at mburke@commercialobserver.com.