ValueXpress has arranged a $6-million CMBS conduit loan for the refinance of a three-story Holiday Inn Express hotel constructed in 2008 and located in Snyder, Texas. The property is situated on State Highway 180 near State Highway 84, approximately a one-hour drive west of Abilene.
The property is located immediately north of Sweetwater, Texas, the center of the Western Hemisphere’s leading wind power generation region. Sweetwater is known as the “Wind Turbine Capital of Texas.” The property is in proximity to energy pipeline installations owned by Kinder Morgan and other pipeline operators. These diverse energy businesses provide hotel demand for operations and maintenance personnel to keep these installations up and running.
The property is located across the campus of Western Texas College (WTC) and the WTC Coliseum. WTC offers two-year college degrees in the Arts and Sciences. The Coliseum seats 3,800 and is used for a variety of events.
“The loan was a challenge as the transaction returned all the sponsor’s equity and then some,” explained Jay Bhakta, a Senior Loan Originator at the ValueXpress Jackson, Mississippi office and 15-year ValueXpress veteran. “In addition, a large segment of demand is related to energy services, and the risk is whether that demand will be consistent over the loan term. We mitigated this risk by structuring the transaction with a 20-year amortization schedule to amortize the principal balance of the loan quicker than the typical 25-year schedule.”