Latest news RSS Feed
Print Story
E-mail StoryFinancing for Padre Hotel isn't a sure thing
| Monday, May 19 2008 3:02 PM
Last Updated: Monday, May 19 2008 3:04 PM
The new owners of downtown’s landmark Padre Hotel are hurriedly trying to secure a $16 million construction loan after San Joaquin Bank declined to finance the building’s renovation.
Our readers recommend:
Loading Stories
To view video for this story
please update your Flash player
Photos:
The Padre Hotel.
Related Stories:
“No one’s lending for anything right now,” owner Brett Miller said.
The project is still on track to open as a 112-room boutique hotel by March next year, said Miller, a partner in the San Diego development team that bought the nearly empty building two months ago for $4 million.
The developers have a letter of commitment from another bank, but the financing isn’t yet a sure thing, Miller said. They expect to know if the loan is theirs within 30 days.
It’s a financing saga highlighting how the subprime lending crisis has tied up all types of credit — not just home loans.
Timing is working against the developers, even though their business plan is fundamentally sound, San Joaquin Bank President and CEO Bart Hill said.
A refurbished Padre should be a hit in a city where hotel occupancy rates are high, he said.
And he loves the developers’ concept of taking an abandoned landmark in Bakersfield’s core and turning it into a luxury hotel.
But “the whole (banking) industry is just recoiling,” Hill said.
The Padre’s former owner, Pacifica Enterprises LLC, failed in its attempt to revive the Padre.
Their plans, which included transforming the building into condos, were mired by an asbestos removal controversy and other delays.
Miller remains confident his plans for Bakersfield’s iconic Padre will succeed.
And much of downtown seems to be rooting for him.
“I’ve got two buildings next to them,” said Klarke Garl, who owns the New Yorker apartment building and Nile Theater downtown.
“I’d love to see them succeed.”