Acres Capital Provides $75M Construction Loan for 4-Star Georgia Hotel
By Cathy Cunningham July 15, 2022 10:00 am
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Concord Hospitality has landed a $74.8 million construction loan to fund development of the Westin Gwinnett Hotel in Duluth, Ga., Commercial Observer has learned.
Acres Capital provided the financing to the Raleigh, N.C.-based firm.
When completed, the property — which will be the first four-star hotel in the market — will connect directly to Duluth’s Gas South Convention Center.
“The property’s proximity to Atlanta, coupled with being the first four-star hotel of its kind in this market, will meet the growing demand for business and leisure accommodations in the area,” Mark Fogel, Aces CEO and president, said. “The Gas South District’s campus has created a distinctive and exciting atmosphere for hosting a variety of events, and we are confident that will help Westin further distinguish itself by leading the ‘path of progress’ north of Atlanta.”
In addition to Acres’ loan, the deal was structured with several city and county incentives.
Sitting only 30 minutes north of downtown Atlanta, the 348-key Westin will include 17,607 square feet of meeting space as well as a business center, a fitness room, dining options and a rooftop bar.
“On behalf of Concord Hospitality and its investors, I am delighted to announce the closing of the construction loan for the Westin Atlanta Gwinnett with Acres Capital,” Mark Laport, CEO and president of Concord Hospitality, said in prepared remarks. “The hotel is ideally positioned in one of the fastest-growing counties in the greater Atlanta market. The various stakeholders recognize the tremendous future of the Westin Atlanta Gwinnett, which will become one of the region’s most distinctive premium branded hotel developments.”
Speaking more generally of Acres’ appetite for hotel lending opportunities and the hospitality sector’s rebound post-pandemic at the CRE Finance Council’s annual conference in June, Fogel told CO: “Leisure obviously bounced back very quickly, as I think people just need places to go. We have a lot of loans in the leisure side of our portfolio, and they’re doing really well. I do think that business hotels and conference center hotels are going to bounce very well toward the latter part of this year. We have two convention center hotels, one in Wisconsin and one in Philadelphia, and the activity we’re seeing there is spiking. So, if that’s any indication I think those hotels will start to perform very well.”
