Jones Lang LaSalle

200-Key Sheraton Will Rise
By Eric Peterson
Last updated: December 6, 2005 03:01pm

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MT. LAUREL, NJ-Work is set to get under way on a full-service 200-room Sheraton Hotel on an eight-acre site in this South Jersey community. And the project has just gotten a boost from a $17.6-million non-recourse construction loan. The project is actually a redevelopment. The site currently contains a 100-room Ramada Inn, which will be razed to make way for the new hostelry.

The financing was arranged by the New York City-based AFC Realty Capital, an investment banking firm. The loan was placed by Michael Sonnabend, an AFC Realty Capital principal, with a subsidiary of an investment bank, which was not identified. The loan is for a four-year term and is priced based on a floating rate based on Libor.

The identity of the loan recipient and developer of the hotel was also not disclosed. A spokesman for AFC would describe the recipient only as “a Philadelphia-based development group that owns several other hotels in the market.”

According to Sonnabend, the proceeds of the funding “will be used by the owners to redevelop the property. It will also be used to pay off existing debt and to fund certain reserves.” Besides its 200 guest rooms, the new Sheraton will include 20,000 sf of meeting space, a business center, fitness center and pool, and a restaurant and bar/lounge.