ValueXpress arranged $30 million of hospitality loans that were recently included in a $1.1-billion multi-borrower CMBS offering by J.P. Morgan and Ladder Capital that priced on December 12. The offering included 45 loans; the majority were retail (45%) and office (26.3%), but also included in the issue were 10 hospitality loans, representing the third-largest asset class (11.8%). Of the hotel loans, 5 were arranged by ValueXpress: the 84-room Staybridge Suites – Corpus Christi, TX; the 88-room Holiday Inn Express – Corpus Christi, TX; the 56-room LaQuinta – Fresno, CA; the 74-room Comfort Inn – Panama City Beach, FL; and the 61-room Comfort Inn – Corpus Christi, TX.
“We have been working on a steady stream of hospitality and non-hospitality loans that have been included in many CMBS issues this year,” commented Jim Brett, senior underwriter at ValueXpress. “I am pleased to report that none of our loans have been “kicked out” of any issue and have been profitable to our CMBS conduit lenders, while at the same time providing attractive fixed-rate loans to our borrowers.”
“Well, we put our money where our mouth is, as on one side we arranged loans for this CMBS issue, and on the other side, we purchased $5 million of Class B securities from the issue for our affiliate Country Bank. Obviously, we believe the credit characteristics of the issue are strong and we expect low defaults during the life of the issue,” Brett said.