Harry G. Spirides, President of Spirides Hospitality Finance Company
TAMPA, FL—Spirides Hospitality Finance Company has successfully arranged, and its client has closed an $8.7 million building conversion and term, first priority conventional loan from a Southeast U.S. headquartered bank to finance the development of a new Holiday Inn in Downtown Columbia, South Carolina.
This new 90 guest room, 10-story, full-service Holiday Inn is being developed by converting an existing 1950s era office building into a unique, first class hotel. The building is located at 1233 Washington Street in the heart of Downtown Columbia, Richland County, SC. Hotel amenities will include the Holiday Inn Gen 4 design package, interior corridors, swimming pool, fitness center, restaurant and lounge, business center, market pantry, and a guest laundry. Nearby attractions and demand generators include the South Carolina State House Capitol and government office buildings, University of South Carolina, the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, the Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina State Museum, Colonial Life Arena, Williams-Brice Stadium, Riverbanks Zoo and Botanical Gardens, EdVenture Children’s Museum, local hospitals, and numerous office buildings, shops, restaurants, banks, and corporate headquarters.
The terms of the financing arranged by Spirides for this new Holiday Inn development project include a five-year term with a very favorable fixed rate of interest for the life of the loan, 70% loan to cost ratio, interest only monthly mortgage payments for the first 18 months through the construction period, followed by principal and interest payments based on a 20-year amortization schedule for the remainder of the term.
“Since there was no vacant land available on which to build a new hotel in the Central Business District of Downtown Columbia this ingenious building conversion project is an excellent example of adaptive reuse,” says Harry G. Spirides, President of Spirides Hospitality Finance Company who led the debt placement team representing the borrower in this transaction. “The investors are breathing new life into an old building while conserving resources and extending the life of a historic landmark. There is a very good chance you will soon see this building on the National Register of Historic Places. Additionally, from a business competitive strategy perspective, this project is a clever way for a new hotel to enter a prime market which otherwise has very high barriers to entry,” continues Spirides.
The InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) “Holiday Inn brand family is the largest hotel brand in the world, with the largest development pipeline,” according to the IHG website. The first Holiday Inn was opened in 1952, and today 1,173 Holiday Inns are open for business with another 263 hotels in the pipeline. Full-service Holiday Inns, all of which feature a restaurant and lounge, operate in the upper-midscale segment of the lodging industry.
