HALL Structured Finance Closes $19.15M Construction Loan To Finance The Redevelopment Of The Gale Hotel In Fort Lauderdale, Florida

DALLAS, Jan. 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Dallas-based HALL Structured Finance (HSF) announced today that the company has closed a new first lien construction loan totaling $19.15 million to finance the redevelopment of the Gale Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The new 96-room boutique hotel is being developed by Harvey Hernandez, founder of Miami-based Newgard Development Group and Dev Motwani, President and CEO of Merrimac Ventures.  The partnership is also developing the adjacent Gale Residences. HSF provided a $35.6 million construction loan to finance the Gale Residences in 2016. The hotel is expected to open in 1^st quarter 2019.

"We are thrilled to have the opportunity to continue working with Harvey and his team to finance the construction of the Gale Hotel," said Mike Jaynes, president of HALL Structured Finance. "The Gale Residences have already sold out since breaking ground in 2016, and we think the hotel will be a great success given the growing tourism market in Fort Lauderdale and the shortage of boutique lodging options."

The Gale Hotel site was first constructed in 1948 as the Escape Hotel, which operated well into the 1980s. The property was then transitioned into Tiffany House, an assisted living facility, until it was closed in 2005. Today, the historic property is being redeveloped into the Gale Hotel, which sits adjacent to the Gale Residences one block west of A1A and Fort Lauderdale beach on the Intracoastal Waterway.

"HALL Structured Finance has been a wonderful partner throughout this process," said Harvey Hernandez, founder of Newgard Development Group. "We have worked with their team for nearly two years now to finance both the Gale Residences and Hotel, and we are excited to be able to complete the last piece of this project with their support."

Aztec Group's Howard Taft and Charles Penan sourced the financing for both phases of the project and Barbara Salk with BSmart Development led the negotiations and coordinated the closing on behalf of the partnership. Menin Hospitality, whose portfolio in South Florida includes the Gale South Beach hotel, Sanctuary South Beach and The Bentley South Beach, will manage the new Gale Hotel.

HALL Structured Finance exceeded $275 million in construction loans in 2017, and expects to close $500 million in 2018.

About HALL Structured Finance
HALL Structured Finance is an entrepreneurial, value-add direct private lender to the real estate industry. We specialize in providing capital for ground up construction, adaptive reuse, and major asset repositioning and renovations for commercial real estate projects throughout the U.S. The HALL Structured Finance lending program is designed to provide real estate owners, operators and developers with an alternative to bank financing, and is oriented to be a resource to projects that may be underserved by the institutional capital markets. For more information, visit hallstructuredfinance.com. 

SOURCE HALL Structured Finance