Developer Louis Cappelli sold the Residence Inn Hotel at New Roc City this month for $21 million in cash to the Florida based real estate firm Chatham Lodging Trust. The sale will help give Cappelli some cash flow as he moves forward on the proposed LeCount Square project.
As you recall, Cappelli gave up most of the ownership of New Roc City to Entertainment Properties Trust, a Kansas City based group, earlier this summer. According to that deal, Cappelli would give up control of the movie theater and retail portion of New Roc City but keep the Residence Inn Hotel and The Lofts at New Roc.
Cappelli Enterprises VP Joseph Apicella said the sale of the hotel is evidence New Rochelle is economically viable to invest in.
“In this marketplace, you would think we’d have a difficult time marketing product like this, an extended stay hotel in downtown New Rochelle,” Apicella said. ”It is a credit to that city that these public companies want to invest their public money in New Rochelle. They’re doing it not just because it’s New Rochelle but because the return on investments there have been demonstrated over the last 10 years to be significant and consistent.”
He added Cappelli has no plans on selling the Lofts right now.
Apicella said Cappelli never formally put the hotel up for sale but the deal came about because “We’re always in the marketplace talking to people, that’s just the nature of our business.”
The deal comes as Cappelli moves forward on LeCount Square, a $500 million plan for stores, offices, a hotel and luxury residences bounded by Huguenot Street, Anderson Street, LeCount Place and North Avenue.
Apicella added the sale of the Residence Inn will be used for liquidity to help secure financing for LeCount Square and hopes the deal will lead to long-term relations with Chatham trust.
“These are the people you want to position yourself with not only to get the liquidity you need today and to have the relationship that could be the basis for financing a future phase project like LeCount Square,” he said.
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The deal is presented as a way to generate cash to move forward with LeCount Square. No mention that the MOU agreement expired over a week ago or that Council Member Al Tarantino was on WVOX Friday saying that the terms of the MOU were not met (i.e. the deal is dead).
Apicella spins the deal as demonstrating that New Rochelle is a good place to invest—except that Capelli is selling not buying…again…and has now divested itself of almost all of New Roc City.
Apicella says they were not looking to sell the hotel (which they have sold), and that they are not looking to sell The Lofts without mentioning it is the last remaining piece of New Roc City that Capelli owns having lost control of New Roc proper.
Mr. Ali tells readers the “deal comes as Cappelli moves forward on LeCount Square, a $500 million plan for stores, offices, a hotel and luxury residences bounded by Huguenot Street, Anderson Street, LeCount Place and North Avenue.” He fails to mention that even Mayor Bramson has admitted that if a deal ever does go forward with would be significantly scaled-down. And again, no mention that the MOU has expired so there is no deal.
Something is rotten in Denmark. Strange smell. I guess we’ll all learn from whence it emanates soon enough, taxpayer comrades.
Mr. Cox is a pathetic lair!