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Boulder - Success Stories
Blackstone Refinances Portfolio of 650 Hotels
"Appraising 650 assets is no small feat in and of itself. Appraising 650 assets within a tight time table is even more of a challenge. Greg, Carter, Tanya and the rest of the team at HVS truly did a great job for BofA and the rest of the lending group on the ESH 2005 deal. The appraisal reports showed that HVS really understood the fundamentals of the business as well as Blackstone's strategy in running this specific portfolio of hotels. What really impressed us was that the HVS team was always there for the lenders if we needed additional information or had any questions or concerns."
Paul Pokorney,
Bank of America
"Working with HVS on this complex assignment involving 650 hotels spread across the US was very satisfying. The team delivered on promised dates, always a major potential issue in large pooled transactions with multiple players involved. Ultimately, the bank syndicate was pleased with the result and the ease of dealing with HVS, it has already lead to multiple additional assignments. Merrill Lynch looks forward to continuing its professional relationship with the firm."
Andrew Guziewicz,
Director,
Merrill Lynch Mortgage Lending
HVS-NY was contacted by Merrill Lynch and HVS -Boulder was contacted by Bank of America in May, 2005 to appraise 650 ExtendedStayHotels (consisting of various brands under that chain name). Blackstone owned these properties and wanted to refinance. Merrill was working with both Bear Stearns and Bank of America on the deal.
The HVS Assignment
Examining our collective strengths, Anne Lloyd Jones in NY handled the client contact with Merrill, Greg Hartmann handled the client contact with B of A, Carter Wilson in Boulder created an elaborate model and oversaw the valuation process; Rod Clough of HVS Dallas coordinated all of the 650 site inspections, Tanya Pierson and Jessica Koppa of HVS Boulder oversaw the report writing and editing and Shannon Wheeler and Matt Olivieri handled the production in Boulder. We had 45 days to visit all the properties and come up with draft reports. We had to be completely innovative in terms of how we approached the project due to its sheer size and timing, so we worked closely with Smith Travel to create custom trend reports, developed a completely customized boiler for the appraisal reports, and a new set of portfolio models that allowed changes to made quickly and efficiently.
Results
We met all of our goals. Everything was done on time, no changes to the drafts were required, and the deal soared through the rating agencies. It is important to note a few things about this assignment:
- It represented the largest CMBS deal in US banking history;
- It represented the largest assignment ever completed in HVS history;
- It represented the largest fee ($2.5mm) in HVS history.
Since that time we have collectively worked on similar albeit it smaller portfolios including 350 La Quinta Inns, 140 Tharaldson Hotels, 100 White Lodging Services Hotels and HVS Dallas appraised both Meristar and Wyndham which means HVS was involved with virtually every major transaction in the lodging industry in 2005 and 2006 while maintaining all of our other client contacts and substantial workload.
