Contrarian Investor HALL Structured Finance Sets Sights on Houston

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Houston is deemed the energy capital of the world, so when the energy sector is in a down cycle, it reverberates across industries. Troughs impact commercial real estate, causing new construction to stagnate as capital sources constrict and funding for projects dries up.

The Houston market, however, is incredibly diverse and resilient, characterized by a robust local economy, aspects of which are immune to energy shocks. The team at Hall Structured Finance (HSF) is bullish on Houston’s long-term prospects, confident the city will continue to expand its role as one of the preeminent centers of global commerce.

To take advantage of and facilitate this growth, the team (leadership shown here) employs a creative approach to accommodate a broad range of clients and fill various market niches. It’s fast-moving, entrepreneurial and, most importantly, a contrarian investor, making HSF uniquely positioned to seize some of Houston’s most promising opportunities, particularly projects that have been bypassed by banking institutions and other, more conventional lenders.

“We’ve financed several projects in Houston in the past, including providing the construction financing for the Hotel Indigo at the Galleria (here) and the TownePlace Suites Houston Westchase, and are very interested in future opportunities,” said Hall Structured Finance president Mike Jaynes. “We’ve long admired the strength and diversity of Houston’s economy, and are confident that we can fill a need in the market that has been increased by recent bank reforms and regulations, limiting their ability to provide construction financing.”

HSF, a subsidiary of Dallas-based real estate company Hall Group, operates with the professionalism and power of a national organization, catering to all major asset classes, while retaining a local feel and emphasizing an individualized approach. Its affiliation with Hall Group also helps it understand all angles of real estate and finance—from an owner’s perspective, a borrower’s perspective and a lender’s perspective.

The team considers the strength and potential of a project in addition to its anticipated debt/equity financing mix. It specializes in providing capital for ground-up construction, adaptive reuse, major asset repositioning and renovations for commercial real estate projects throughout the US with particular focus on the hospitality sector.

Just last week, HSF closed a construction loan totaling $10.9M to finance the development of a TownePlace Suites by Marriott (pictured) in Oak Creek, WI, in southern Milwaukee.

“As an entrepreneurial private balance-sheet lender, we are not constrained by banking regulations, which allows us to help fill the void in today’s real estate capital markets,” Mike says. “This also gives us the ability to be more flexible and creative when lending to developers.”

The HSF loan program is designed to provide real estate owners, operators and developers with an alternative to bank financing, and is oriented to be a resource for projects that are underserved by the institutional capital markets.

HSF is comprised of a small group of highly skilled real estate and finance practitioners with the ability to understand the value proposition across a broad range of complex real estate investment scenarios and provide their clients with specialized capital solutions that allow them to achieve their business objectives.

To learn more about Hall Structured Finance, click here.

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