Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL), a leading independent investment bank and financial advisory firm, is pleased to announce the closing of approximately $217.6 million in financing for the residential and hotel components of the Erieview Tower and Galleria redevelopment in downtown Cleveland. BGL’s Real Estate team served as the exclusive financial advisor to ErieView Development on the project.

The redevelopment will turn the 40-story 1964 landmark at East Ninth Street and St. Clair Avenue into a 210-key W Cleveland hotel, the first W Hotel in Ohio, and 215 W Apartments offered exclusively for rent rather than for sale, a first for the brand worldwide. The hotel and apartments are scheduled to open in 2027.

The amenity program is the most extensive assembled in a single Ohio building. A resident will be able to park in the enclosed garage on a February evening, and reach the 38th-floor restaurant, without ever stepping outside. Residents, office tenants and hotel guests will draw on the same food and beverage program throughout the property, including dining delivered to residences and to office floors. The spa, fitness center, 15,000-square-foot ballroom and lobby lounge are planned to be reachable within the Tower.

“BGL brought both creativity and discipline to a highly complex capital structure, helping us bring together the right financing partners to move this landmark redevelopment forward. Their understanding of historic redevelopment, structured finance, and the Cleveland market was instrumental in helping us reach this important milestone. This project has always been about more than one building. It is about honoring Erieview Tower’s legacy while creating new energy for East Ninth Street and downtown Cleveland for generations to come,” said Elias Kassouf, ErieView Development.

Financing the Residential and Hotel Phases

Nuveen Green Capital provided $93.4 million in C-PACE financing for the redevelopment, the largest C-PACE transaction closed in Ohio. The proceeds fund energy, water, and building-envelope improvements, including VRF mechanical systems, curtain wall, and elevator modernization. ERIEBANK, a division of CNB Bank, is providing senior financing of $20 million.

Foss & Company invested in the Ohio Historic and Transformational Mixed-Use Development tax credits and provided bridge financing for those tax credits. Consortium Structured Investments invested in the federal historic tax credits, with Midland States Bank providing federal historic tax credit bridge financing. Cuyahoga County provided a loan supporting the hotel. The financings also include Ohio Brownfield Remediation Program funds, City of Cleveland tax abatements and tax increment financing, and Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority incentives.

BGL worked closely with Kohrman Jackson & Krantz (KJK), representing ErieView Development in the transaction. The other parties involved in the closing include Berardi + Partners LLC, TurnDev, Turner & Townsend, Novogradac & Company LLP, Beyer Blinder Belle (hotel architect), and Rockwell Group (interior design).

“This was a highly meaningful financing for BGL, not only because of the scale and complexity of the transaction, but because of what it represents for Cleveland,” said Anthony Delfre, BGL Managing Director, who advised Erieview Development on the financing. “BGL’s founder, the late Mike Gibbons, was a strong advocate for high-quality multifamily housing across the Midwest, and Northeast Ohio is exactly the kind of market where that vision continues to resonate. Cleveland’s momentum, combined with the strength of the Erieview redevelopment, helped make it an ideal setting for Marriott to introduce Ohio’s first W hotel and the first W Apartments offered for rent anywhere in the world.”

About BGL’s Real Estate Team

BGL’s Real Estate team offers comprehensive real estate investment banking services tailored to the middle market. It provides client-focused solutions with an emphasis on real estate advisory, debt, preferred and private equity placement, financial restructuring, recapitalizations, sale-leasebacks, structured finance, and asset acquisitions and dispositions across all asset classes. The team assists real estate owners and developers looking to form alliances and joint ventures with single-source capital providers to gain local and institutional access for all capital needs.

Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL), a leading independent investment bank and financial advisory firm, is pleased to announce the refinancing and financial restructuring of two Wyndham hotels totaling 245 keys in Avon, OH, and Noblesville, IN. BGL’s Real Estate team served as the exclusive financial advisor to the ownership group in this transaction, with American Bank N.A. providing the bridge financing for the Wyndham Avon and Wyndham Noblesville hotels.

BGL’s Real Estate team advised the owners on a tailored solution to navigate upcoming senior loan maturities by negotiating short-term forbearance, prepayment terms, and extension options for in-place bridge financing, while ultimately securing new multi-year term senior bridge financing. In addition, BGL raised preferred equity investment to recapitalize both hotels’ balance sheets, which redeemed minority interests within the original ownership group and funded reserve accounts at each property.

The new American Bank bridge financing successfully retires maturing construction financing, along with the prepayment of a Small Business Administration 504 loan. With this execution, American Bank delivers an efficient financing structure to optimize hotel operations and reaffirm the long-term lending relationship with the Sponsor.

Zane Smith, Executive Vice President and Chief Banking Officer at American Bank: “We pride ourselves on finding bespoke solutions for our clients’ credit needs. This is exactly what we had to do with this transaction. Over multiple months, we crafted a credit solution that worked for all parties, even accommodated a pivot, at the last minute, due to third-party issues. It was a pleasure working with the Ceres and BGL team on these assets to find a creative lending structure.”

BGL previously closed on the  brand conversion for a portfolio of hotels that included the Wyndham Avon and Wyndham Noblesville at Noblesville Innovation Mile.

David Crisafi, President of Ceres Enterprises: “As these hotels faced maturity walls in the current capital markets environment, BGL’s advisory was pivotal to arrange a beneficial solution that would continue supporting the strong operational performance at both properties. BGL and American Bank quickly structured the new issuance and ran an efficient closing process to achieve key milestones and deadlines. We look forward to the continued partnership with American Bank as an institutional hotel lender.”

Ceres Enterprises is a leading developer and operator of premier hotels in the Midwestern United States, whose portfolio includes Marriott, Hilton, and Wyndham hotels. The Orlean Company is a leading Ohio-based real estate developer with extensive ground-up commercial real estate experience, including senior and assisted living care housing, affordable and market-rate multifamily housing, and commercial retail and for-sale housing in Northeast Ohio.

About BGL’s Real Estate Team

BGL’s Real Estate Team offers comprehensive real estate investment banking services tailored to the middle market. It provides client-focused solutions with an emphasis on real estate advisory, debt, preferred and private equity placement, financial restructuring, recapitalizations, sale-leasebacks, structured finance, and asset acquisitions and dispositions across all asset classes. The team assists real estate owners and developers looking to form alliances and joint ventures with single-source capital providers to gain local and institutional access for all capital needs.

About American Bank

American Bank is a $700 million asset boutique bank that works to find bespoke solutions to its clients. Since 1974, American Bank has been a community-focused financial institution dedicated to helping individuals and businesses achieve their dreams. With headquarters in Grapevine and serving customers in the DFW area and nationwide, the bank combines personalized service with modern banking solutions. Guided by five core values: Innovation, Community, Trust, Service, and Excellence. American Bank delivers competitive rates and a high-touch customer experience. An FDIC-designated Minority Depository Institution, the bank lives by its tagline: “Bank Small. Dream Big.”, offering inclusive and accessible banking for all.