SpringHill Suites Auburn Travels Long Development Road With ALC By Its Side
Welcome back to Build Your Dream.
When Hoss Bozorgzad, principal at Hill Top Hospitality, approached us in 2016, he had already been working for eight years to build the SpringHill Suites in Auburn, Calif.
“Our project was entitled and planned before the 2008 market crisis hit,” Hoss recalled this week. “So, I decided to mothball it. When we came back to it, traditional financing was bad. So, I determined that we wanted to go with alternative financing.”
Hoss’s research uncovered potential financial support through government Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), government-guaranteed small business loans and the EB-5 immigration investment program. That, in turn, led him to American Lending Center.
Financing Options
“ALC offered some very good financing options,” Hoss said. “They helped put a successful financing stack together with the EB-5, a SBA 504 loan, the CDBG and our equity.
“Once we started, it became clear quickly that the decision (to partner with ALC) was correct. They were very understanding and patient. They would send teams up, and they would see that we were working hard.”
With financing in place, construction began on the 127-room hotel, situated on the highest point in Auburn. The city is between Sacramento and the Sierra Nevada high country, in the California Gold Country, and SpringHill Suites by Marriott would become a jumping-off spot to adventure.
Overcoming Obstacles
But there were more struggles to overcome first. Hoss said construction was delayed by two huge rain events, prompting the need for more patience – his and ALC’s. But the firm, personified by COO Stella Zhang, legal counsel Justin Blackhall and director of business operations David Bales, continued to work with Hill Top.
“ALC is proud to sponsor and support this project as it represents a significant opportunity for both investors and the community,” Stella Zhang said. “The vision behind this project aligns with our commitment to fostering economic growth, creating jobs, and making a positive impact. We believe in its potential to contribute to the development and prosperity of the region.”
“Working with Hoss on this project was a pleasure,” David Bales added. “A few curveballs were thrown at him during construction, including Covid, and he handled each of them with proficiency.”
SpringHill Suites Auburn opened in November 2019 – just a few months before the COVID pandemic hit in March 2020. Hoss said he wanted to keep his trained staff onboard, and went to the government for a PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loan. As the pandemic dragged on, and the hotel stayed open, Hill Top completed a second PPP loan through American Lending Center.
Into The Future
SpringHill Suites made it through the pandemic and is beginning to see the fruit of their labors, Hoss said.
“We’re doing good now,” Hoss said. “We’re seeing good occupancy rates…
“We originally planned this as a destination resort,” he added. “As it went on, I decided to do it in phases. Now we’re ready to start phase two, with planning and construction drawings. We’ll be looking at financing at the end of the year, and we’ll definitely be having a conversation with ALC.”
SpringHill Suites by Marriott Auburn can be reached at 530-492-5656 or at springhillauburn.com.
It’s been an honor and a pleasure to help Hoss develop his vision at SpringHill Suites Auburn. It’s our goal at ALC to help Develop Your Vision too.
John Shen
CEO & co-founder
American Lending Center
About American Lending Center: A Financial Times (FT) Americas’ Fastest Growing Company
American Lending Center (ALC) is a private nonbank lending institution and nationally recognized leader in small business lending. By the end of 2022, ALC has fully financed senior loan products to 83 qualified EB-5 projects in 19 states, contributing to a combined construction and business expansion budget of over 1.2 billion dollars. ALC’s lending practice has successfully created more than 13,000 new jobs nationwide since 2009.
In 2022, ALC launched its new rural construction and development fund with capital available for construction of fixed assets of all types in rural areas including manufacturing, energy, infrastructure, hospitality, specialty use, multi-use and other project types.
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