Condo Hotels

April 28, 2011

Condo Hotel Lawyer: What is happening with the condo hotel sector?

by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group®
Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com
28 April 2011

Hotel Lawyer with more on the long-term future of condo hotels.

It is interesting that I got calls from two reporters about the state of the condo hotel sector this week. One from a major daily paper doing background research, and the other from a well-respected industry publication, MortgageOrb, published by Zackin Publications (which also publishes Commercial Mortgage Insight and Secondary Marketing Executive.)

Condo hotels have not been in the news for some time, and as hospitality transactions heat up, many are now wondering how and when this niche product will be resurrected.

Phil Hall of MortgageOrb asked some excellent questions about the condo hotel sector and our interview, titled Jim Butler Checks Out the Condo-Hotel Niche, published in MortgageOrb's Person of the Week column, is reprinted below.

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April 14, 2011

Hotel Lawyer with good news! A new federal court decision upholds condo hotel structure. No "securities" involved as structured. Disgruntled condo hotel unit purchaser lawsuit dismissed.

by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

By Jim Butler and the Global Hospitality Group®
Hotel Lawyers | Authors of www.HotelLawBlog.com
14 April 2011

Hotel Lawyer with good news for well-structured condo hotel deals. With the experience gained as legal and business advisors on more than 100 condo hotel and hotel condo projects, we have said for many years that this type of project has earned an enduring place in the landscape of hotel and real estate development. We still believe that.

The main issues of successful hotel mixed-use development are managing consumer expectations, fulfilling those expectations, and creating a viable mixed-use regime structure. In the case of condo hotels, a viable structure must work from an operational standpoint, be economically sustainable, and avoid triggering violations of Federal and State securities laws.

In a recent lawsuit, involving the Hard Rock Hotel San Diego, a federal district court in California ruled against the condo hotel buyers, finding that no securities laws were violated -- the plaintiffs did not allege facts that would cause the condo hotel units to constitute "securities." We see the case as affirming the effectiveness in defeating plaintiffs' claims of two structural elements we have encouraged all our clients to use.

My partner, Catherine Holmes, who structures most of our condo hotel regimes, talks about these factors and the case below. Catherine advises clients in the specific business and legal aspects of condo hotel regime structuring and documentation, including securities compliance matters, documentation and training. In her article below, she talks about the case and what it means for us in the condo hotel world. It is good news!

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December 22, 2008

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

by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

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

Please see "troubled hotel loans - workouts, bankruptcies & receiverships" for the latest articles on troubled hotels.

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.

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December 22, 2008

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

by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

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

Please see "troubled hotel loans - workouts, bankruptcies & receiverships" for the latest articles on troubled hotels.

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.

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December 22, 2008

Hotel Lawyers: Restructuring distressed condo hotels - Part 3

by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

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.

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December 21, 2008

Hotel Lawyers: Restructuring distressed condo hotels - Part 2

by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

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.

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October 21, 2008

Hospitality Lawyer: The 5 biggest misconceptions about Condo Hotels

by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

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.

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July 9, 2007

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

by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

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.

This is a significant transaction for several reasons.

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January 3, 2007

Hotel Lawyer -- Top Picks for 2006

by the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

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 . . .

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December 12, 2006

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 the JMBM Global Hospitality Group®

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?

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