Akara Partners Lands $57M Refi for Chicago Hotel

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JLL Capital Markets worked on behalf of Akara Partners to arrange a $57.6 million refinance loan for the Home2Suites by Hilton Chicago River North, a new 206-suite extended-stay hotel in downtown Chicago’s River North neighborhood. JLL placed the floating-rate loan with an unidentified global investment management firm. Akara Partners will use the proceeds to refinance the property’s construction loan.

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Home2Suites by Hilton Chicago River North opened last February. The 17-story hotel is pet-friendly and features a concrete-and-glass exterior with floor-to-ceiling windows and flexible guestroom configurations. Amenities include a fitness center, a business center, an outdoor terrace with fire pit, free breakfast, meeting space with teleconferencing capabilities and a ground-floor restaurant.

The location is at 110 W. Huron St. (northwest corner of Huron Street and Clark Street) and is easily accessed from both Michigan Avenue, Chicago’s largest shopping district, and the Loop, as well as from the downtown financial district. It’s also within walking distance to the new $100 million Chicago Riverwalk.

The JLL Capital Markets team was led by Keith Largay, Jeff Bucaro, Nicole Aguiar and Brian Walsh.

Expecting a good year

Extended-stay hotels are proving to be popular in the expanding submarkets around Chicago’s historical downtown. Last summer, Sterling Bay, a very active developer in the city’s West Loop, opened the Hyatt House West Loop–Fulton Market, at 105 N. May St. The 14-story extended-stay hotel totals 200 keys and features about 1,500 square feet of meeting rooms, a 24-hour fitness center, a rooftop pool, a business center and ground-floor retail.

Around that time, Commercial Property Executive interviewed McHugh Construction Vice President Kate Ivanova, a veteran of hospitality construction and development in Chicago. Among the trends in the city’s hospitality sector she described is greater emphasis on making a hotel’s public/common spaces more welcoming. She also predicted a strong 2020 for convention business in Chicago, along with continuing strong tourism.