Dealmaker: RobertDouglas Advises Denihan in $320 Million Hotel Financing

RobertDouglas, New York, secured $320 million to allow Denihan Investments, New York, to refinance four New York City hotels: The Benjamin, Shelburne NYC, Fifty NYC and Gardens NYC. 

Goldman Sachs credit fund Broad Street Real Estate Credit Partners II supplied the five-year financing.

Denihan Investments and Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, Bethesda, Md. owned the four properties and two other Manhattan hotels, Dumont NYC and Manhattan NYC, in a joint venture valued at $820 million. The two firms agreed that Denihan would acquire The Benjamin, Shelburne NYC, Fifty NYC and Gardens NYC, which total 917 rooms, and Pebblebrook would assume full ownership of Dumont NYC and Manhattan NYC, which total 870 rooms.

“We are bullish on the long-term value of the New York City market,” Denihan Investments CEO Patrick Denihan said.

RobertDouglas Principal and Managing Director Doug Hercher called current New York hotel operating conditions “difficult,” but noted that Denihan’s portfolio includes some of the strongest-performing hotels in the market. “Lenders responded positively to this financing,” he said. 

Chris Ropko, Senior Director with RobertDouglas, called the current environment a “transitional moment” for capital markets, “with regulatory changes and slowing hotel fundamentals, particularly in Manhattan, creating challenges for lenders.” But he said Goldman Sachs’ loan reflects the firm’s long-term confidence in New York’s hotel market and the portfolio.