REP believes hotels to be major catalysts for job creation, community revitalization and minority economic development. The REP team has substantial experience using community development finance tools to attract non-traditional debt and equity capital to finance the development of hospitality projects. Successes include:
- Assisting a land grant university to forge an innovative public-private partnership to develop a SpringHill Suites by Marriott hotel on its 18,253 student campus. The 114 room limited-service hotel was the first real estate project in the country to be financed with a combination of tax-exempt bond financing and NMTC.
- Accessing the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) and federal Historic Tax Credit programs to finance the adaptive re-use redevelopment of a long vacant and boarded department store in a major southern city into a mixed-use residential/ commercial project anchored by a 250-room Hilton Garden Inn.