Hospitality

We represented Upstream Point Molate LLC, the developer of a billion-dollar Indian tribal resort development in the City of Richmond, proposing to include hotels, casinos, performance facilities, a shopping center, residential development, and tribal facilities on a former Naval Fuel Depot situated along San Francisco Bay.

We represented the developers and owners of the Citizen Hotel in Sacramento, CA, with the rehabilitation of the historic building and in securing federal historic tax credits for the project. We also assisted with construction financing and negotiations with the local redevelopment agency.

We assisted the Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group in raising capital for various individual hotel projects, including a hotel investment opportunity fund that raised over $125 million. We were instrumental in all facets of creating this fund, negotiating with investors, and drafting the fund documents. The fund has acquired 10 hotel properties, all of which are managed by Kimpton. We also assisted in the sale of six hotels in San Francisco, including the Vintage Court Hotel (including a Michelin-starred restaurant), which was the first disposition in the company’s history, and the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. We also refinanced the Harbor Court Hotel.

We represented the developer of the Cavallo Point Resort – a hotel, spa, and restaurant at Fort Baker, a historic military base located at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County. We assisted the developer in obtaining historic tax credits and coordinating with various state and federal agencies. We also negotiated and drafted construction contracts and provided course-of-construction counseling to address and resolve design and construction issues as they arose, proactively avoiding costly and distracting claims.

We represented hotel developer Bald Mountain LLC in obtaining entitlements for a proposed Four Seasons Hotel in Calistoga, located on the site of the current Silver Rose Inn. We also advised the client on its exploration with the City of St. Helena of a potential redevelopment of St. Helena’s City Hall site for hotel use, with the relocation of the City Hall facility to an alternative site.

Secured Historic Tax Credit for the over $200 million rehabilitation of a five star hotel in Downtown Chicago.

Represented Rafael Hotels in the sale of its international hotel property portfolio to Mandarin Oriental Hotels for $142.5 million. The transaction involved hotels located in the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Bermuda, Canada and England.

We represent restaurants, hotels, and nightclubs in obtaining licenses to serve alcoholic beverages and operating compliant businesses. We provide strategic planning with respect to tied house issues and interface with the Department of Alcoholic Beverages and Liquor Control Commissions throughout the United States.

The firm represented Regent International Hotels for 20 years and, in the course of doing so, prepared and negotiated all of Regent’s management and joint venture transactions in the United States and abroad, including resort projects where golf and tennis club memberships were involved, notably the Kapalua Bay Hotel in Maui, the Dorado Beach and Cerromar Beach Hotels in Puerto Rico and Regent Dallas.

The San Ysidro Ranch is an exclusive hotel property in the foothills of the Santa Ynez Mountains in Montecito, California.  We represented Auberge Resorts in connection with the sale of the Ranch to Ty Properties, Inc.  In connection with the sale, we negotiated the hotel management agreement, under which Auberge continues to manage the property.