A South Carolina hotel developer plans to take a second shot at bringing Cambria Suites to Atlanta, transforming an empty Downtown building to do it.
Columbia, SC-based Sejwad Hospitality—which owns the flagship Sheraton Columbia Downtown Hotel—has purchased 166 Pryor St (aka 110 Mitchell St), a six-story, 75k SF commercial building at the corner of Mitchell and Pryor. Sejwad—led by Rick Patel (above)—will initiate a $16.5M transformation and flag it as a Choice Hotels International Cambria brand.
Calling it a “diamond in the rough,” Paneris' Tiffany Wills tells us the site is ideal given its proximity to the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Georgia State Capitol, Fulton County government hub and the coming Underground Atlanta redo. Paneris is project manager for the Mitchell Street project.
“The hotel will not only bring new lodging to a hotel-barren area, but also retail and restaurants to a location that is in need of these services and redevelopment,” Tiffany says. The hotel will be outfitted with 125 rooms, 3k SF of meeting space, a coffeehouse and restaurant/lounge space.
This isn't Choice's first attempt at bringing Cambria to the metro area. Cambria originally planned to make its Atlanta debut near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in 2008, when it started building a ground-up 143-suite hotel with a separate developer. That project died by 2009, with the onset of the Great Recession, as the original borrower defaulted on the loan and the project reverted to the lender, according to Hotel AG and The Hotel Industry blog.
This time around Sejwad is getting a $2.7M vote of confidence from Choice—an equity contribution from the hotel chain toward redevelopment costs, Tiffany says. Sejwad also received a construction loan from Access Point Financial, and will inject house equity as well into the project. This is Sejwad's first foray in Atlanta, but may not be its last.
Tiffany says the firm is “looking at several other hotel opportunities” here. The firm's other hotel flags include Choice's Clarion, Hilton's Homewood Suites and three Holiday Inn locations. Tiffany confirms Sejwad is not under contract with a parcel off Centennial Olympic Park that sources tell us is also poised for a Cambria Suites location.
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