Ontario hotel raises $103M to become a Hyatt Regency

Inland Empire Business Journal: GreenRock Capital and J.P. Morgan closed $103 million in tax-exempt financing for the Ontario Airport Hotel and Conference Center. The package pairs $26 million in C-PACE bonds with $77 million in mortgage revenue bonds. J.P. Morgan underwrote both and sold them to municipal bond investors. JLL Capital Markets arranged the deal.

National CORE owns the property and is converting it into a 295-key Hyatt Regency. The room count drops from 309 because the upper floors are being reworked into larger suites. The renovation also brings a redesigned lobby, upgraded food and beverage, a new Club Lounge, and more than 16,000 square feet of meeting space.

The structure is unusual at this scale for an IE hospitality conversion. C-PACE handles the energy-efficiency piece while the tax-exempt mortgage revenue bonds carry the rest of the capital stack. GreenRock's Matt Smith and FGS Realty Advisors' Fred Schuster, who worked with the sponsor, both called the structure innovative.

The property sits at the gateway of Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga, near Ontario International Airport, Toyota Arena, and the Ontario Convention Center.