Turning the property of an old seafood plant into a luxury hotel might scare the pants off some lenders, but not Kennedy Funding Financial.
The Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey-based direct private lender, announced that it has closed a $1,525,000, 2-year loan to Pelican Royal, LLC. The loan will be used to purchase a 40,000 sq. ft. lot formerly housing a seafood processing plant in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana fronting Charles Street and bounded by Mazant Street and Royal Street.
"When a lender looks at a vacant piece of land in New Orleans and is asked to provide a loan for a hostel, odds are the loan isn't happening. Banks and non-traditional lenders would be just too turned off. They would say, it's just too high risk - can we get paid back on the loan?
"That's exactly the kind of loan Kennedy Funding Financial thrives on," says Kevin Wolfer, CEO. "We see opportunity and share in the vision of the borrower. We worked tirelessly to help Stateside move forward on the acquisition. They had significant equity in the project and we were able to deliver their funding requirements. It's a win-win-win situation for the borrower, for Kennedy Funding, and for the community."
The plans call for a 32,000 sq. ft. upscale hotel and hostel called Stateside with a mix of 43 private and shared rooms and a range of public amenities including a laundromat, courtyard, pool, restaurant and bar, and a coffee and juice shop. The building will be two stories on the more residential side facing Royal Street and three stories on the more industrial side of Charles Street.
The New Orleans City Council approved the project in a 6-1 decision on May 19 and the Historic Districts and Landmarks Commission unanimously approved preliminary designs on June 16.
With help from the Kennedy Funding Financial loan "purchasing this property is the next big step forward for Stateside," says Ted Kelso, president of Stateside. "As we move towards our opening in early 2018, we continue to work with our neighborhood to make Stateside a welcome addition to Bywater. We look forward to providing amenities for our neighbors, jobs for our community, and a new option for our growing tourism sector in one of our most popular, yet underserved, neighborhoods."
Kennedy Funding Financial, one of the largest direct private lenders in the country, specializes in bridge loans for commercial property and land acquisition, development, workouts, bankruptcies, and foreclosures. The principals of the company have closed over $2.5 billion in loans to date. The firm's creative financing expertise enables the closing of loans of up to a 75% loan-to-value ratio, from $1 million to more than $50 million, in as little as five days. Kennedy Funding Financial continues to actively seek new funding opportunities throughout the world.
