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This is Jim Butler, author of www.HotelLawBlog.com and hotel lawyer. Please contact me at Jim Butler at jbutler@jmbm.com or 310.201.3526.

Condo Hotels

Posted On: December 22, 2008 by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

CONDO HOTEL bankruptcies, workouts and turnarounds fill the headlines, the nightmares of lenders and the dreams of opportunistic investors. Part 2

By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group®
Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com
22 December 2008

Hotel Lawyers on bankrupt condo hotel projects. The landscape is littered with condo hotel bankruptcies, foreclosures, workouts and investment opportunities. But as lenders hasten to clean up their balance sheets, and as opportunistic investors prepare to profit from buying at condo hotel foreclose or bankruptcy sales, or buying deep discount condo hotel debt or underlying assets, they should pause one moment. Unless they ask the right questions before they "jump" into the unknown, they may find themselves in a financially disastrous situation -- at any price.

From experience gathered by our Global Hospitality Group®'s team of hotel lawyers in more than 100 condo hotel and hotel condo projects in the last 5 years, here are the balance of the 100+ questions to ask BEFORE foreclosing on or buying condo hotel assets.

Continue reading "CONDO HOTEL bankruptcies, workouts and turnarounds fill the headlines, the nightmares of lenders and the dreams of opportunistic investors. Part 2" »

Posted On: December 22, 2008 by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

CONDO HOTEL bankruptcies, workouts and turnarounds fill the headlines, the nightmares of lenders and the dreams of opportunistic investors. Part 1

By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group®
Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com
22 December 2008

Hotel Lawyers on bankrupt condo hotel projects. The landscape is littered with condo hotel bankruptcies, foreclosures, workouts and investment opportunities. But as lenders hasten to clean up their balance sheets, and as opportunistic investors prepare to profit from buying at condo hotel foreclose or bankruptcy sales, or buying deep discount condo hotel debt or underlying assets, they should pause one moment. Unless they ask the right questions before they "jump" into the unknown, they may find themselves in a financially disastrous situation -- at any price.

From experience gathered by our Global Hospitality Group®'s team of hotel lawyers in more than 100 condo hotel and hotel condo projects in the last 5 years, here are 100+ questions to ask BEFORE foreclosing on or buying condo hotel assets.

Continue reading "CONDO HOTEL bankruptcies, workouts and turnarounds fill the headlines, the nightmares of lenders and the dreams of opportunistic investors. Part 1" »

Posted On: December 22, 2008 by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

Hotel Lawyers: Restructuring distressed condo hotels - Part 3

Restructuring distressed condominium hotel projects and
workouts of defaulted condo hotel loans for profit opportunities now.
Hotel lawyer on failed condo hotel turnarounds, workouts, bankruptcies and opportunistic investment.

Part 3

By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group®
Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com
22 December 2008

Hotel Lawyers on restructuring distressed condo hotels. Restructuring distressed condo hotel projects and loans secured by them is moving to the top of the list for many lenders, owners and investors. Condo hotel deals are so complex and varied that there is no single "silver bullet" to take care of all problems. Combining JMBM's legal and business experience in advising on more than 100 condo hotel and hotel condo deals with a veteran condo hotel expert, here is a 3-part article to explain: Part 1: the background and structure of the typical condo hotel, Part 2: critical differences between condo hotel restructurings and those with traditional hotels, and Part 3: a unique approach to working out some troubled condo hotel projects.

Continue reading "Hotel Lawyers: Restructuring distressed condo hotels - Part 3" »

Posted On: December 21, 2008 by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

Hotel Lawyers: Restructuring distressed condo hotels - Part 2

Restructuring distressed condominium hotel projects and
workouts of defaulted condo hotel loans for profit opportunities now.
Hotel lawyer on failed condo hotel turnarounds, workouts, bankruptcies and opportunistic investment.

Part 2

By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group®
Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com
21 December 2008

Everyone needs to "share in the pain" required to effect a solution.

Hotel Lawyers on restructuring distressed condo hotels. Restructuring distressed condo hotel projects and loans secured by them is moving to the top of the list for many lenders, owners and investors. Condo hotel deals are so complex and varied that there is no single "silver bullet" to take care of all problems. Combining JMBM's legal and business experience in advising on more than 100 condo hotel and hotel condo deals with a veteran condo hotel expert, here is a 3-part article to explain: Part 1: the background and structure of the typical condo hotel, Part 2: critical differences between condo hotel restructurings and those with traditional hotels, and Part 3: a unique approach to working out some troubled condo hotel projects.

Continue reading "Hotel Lawyers: Restructuring distressed condo hotels - Part 2" »

Posted On: October 21, 2008 by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

Hospitality Lawyer: The 5 biggest misconceptions about Condo Hotels

By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group®
Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com
21 October 2008

Hospitality Lawyer on Condo Hotels. Do they work? Are they viable? What are the 5 biggest misconceptions about Condo Hotels?

"Condo Hotels" -- they are a subject the media "loves to hate." Everyone has an opinion about them -- whether they know anything about them or not. JMBM's Global Hospitality Group® has worked on more than 100 hotel mixed-use projects in the last 5 years alone, most of them involving condo hotels or hotel condos. Funny. Almost all the ones JMBM's hotel lawyers work on really "work" and don't make the headlines.

So with all the critical (and often uninformed) press lately, it was really great to see Brent Howie of Provident Hotels & Resorts -- one of the 30-year veterans of the condo hotel industry -- write a "no nonsense" article de-bunking the 5 biggest myths about condo hotels. I thought I would share it with you and lend our endorsement to its theme (and to the kind of support Brent gives these projects). Brent Howie can be reached at 727-726-4770 or bhowie@prov.com.

Continue reading "Hospitality Lawyer: The 5 biggest misconceptions about Condo Hotels" »

Posted On: July 9, 2007 by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

Hotel Lawyer -- Eco-friendly lifestyle hotel mixed use project closes financing

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
9 July 2007

Hotel Lawyer on eco-friendly hotel financing in Hollywood California. Today, JMBM issued a press release announcing that its Global Hospitality Group® closed the senior debt portion of the capital stack on one of the largest single hotel mixed-use projects in the country -- and one bound to be a "Green" project at that! The complex construction loan transaction was for JMBM client, HSH Nordbank AG, a leading credit institution headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, and particularly renowned for very large construction loans on luxury hotel projects. [For JMBM's current hotel financing resources, please click here. (www.MeetTheMoney.com) and for other conferences, click here (www.jmbm.com/ghg/conferences).

This is a significant transaction for several reasons.

Continue reading "Hotel Lawyer -- Eco-friendly lifestyle hotel mixed use project closes financing" »

Posted On: January 3, 2007 by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

Hotel Lawyer -- Top Picks for 2006

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
3 January 2007

Hotel Lawyer -- Top Picks of 2006. Yes, 2006 has been a record year for many in the hospitality industry, and for the hotel lawyers at Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro LLP. As we have already given our Outlook for 2007, we thought it might be interesting to look back on our Top Pick articles from 2006 from www.HotelLawBlog.com.

The Top Picks articles are organized by the major TOPICS on the Blog. We generally tried to select just the top two or three articles for each TOPIC. It was a major struggle to decide where to make the cutoff. If you want more information on a particular TOPIC, you can go to www.HotelLawBlog.com, and search for all articles on that TOPIC. To do that, just scroll down the right hand side, and below the (free) subscription and RSS Feed buttons is the Browse search engine that enables you to sort by TOPIC (or date, or key words, etc.).

Here they are . . .

Continue reading "Hotel Lawyer -- Top Picks for 2006" »

Posted On: December 12, 2006 by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

Hospitality Lawyer on hotel brands -- How far will the pendulum swing? What's in a name? Just ask Starwood, Hilton . . . Coca-Cola or Procter & Gamble

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
12 December 2006

Hospitality Lawyer on the power of hotel brands. A rose by any other name may smell as sweet. But does a Trump by any other name sell out as fast? Does a Four Seasons by any other name get a $3.7 billion bid from Bill Gates and the Prince?

What's a brand? It is not always so easy to determine. Yesterday, I talked about how Donald Trump is more than "just" a very successful developer. He has developed a powerful BRAND with legs." But are all brands the same? Should they be? What makes a successful brand -- for an owner or developer?

Continue reading "Hospitality Lawyer on hotel brands -- How far will the pendulum swing? What's in a name? Just ask Starwood, Hilton . . . Coca-Cola or Procter & Gamble" »

Posted On: December 11, 2006 by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

Hospitality Lawyer Baja Mexico -- So what's a brand? How did Trump get into this conversation?

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
11 December 2006


Hospitality Lawyer Baja Mexico. He's done it again if you believe the AP Wire reports. On Saturday, December 9, 2007, the Associated Press reported that, "Donald Trump's new luxury hotel-condominiums on Mexico's booming Baja California coast registered about $122 million in sales Friday, potentially heralding a resurgent development boom along the Pacific shoreline, just south of the U.S. border."

I've noted in prior postings that Baja is red hot, and that Trump has become a brand. So what is noteworthy about this latest development?

Continue reading "Hospitality Lawyer Baja Mexico -- So what's a brand? How did Trump get into this conversation? " »

Posted On: December 5, 2006 by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

Condo Hotel Lawyer -- What is fanning the condo hotel wild fire in Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, China, India and the Middle East?

By Jim Butler, Hotel Lawyer | Author of www.HotelLawBlog.com
5 December 2006

Condo Hotel Lawyer: In my last two postings on www.HotlelLawBlog.com, I have been reviewing where the condo hotel phenomenon is today and where its going, and what drives success in condo hotel projects. While there are a lot of reasons that condo hotels make sense and have an enduring legacy, the wildfire that has been burning in the U.S. for the past 5 years is now pulsing out in all directions. What has caused the condo hotel craze to spread to Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, China, India and the Middle East? And why is anyone looking to emulate the state of the art developed over the past 5 years in the U.S.?

Continue reading "Condo Hotel Lawyer -- What is fanning the condo hotel wild fire in Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, China, India and the Middle East?" »