BGL Announces the Completion of Historic Adaptive Reuse Conversion Financing for Ceres Enterprises

Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL) is pleased to announce the successful completion of development financing for Ceres Enterprises (Ceres). The multi-faceted capital structure will support the adaptive reuse of the former NASA Glenn Research Center in Fairview Park, Ohio. BGL’s Real Estate Advisors Group served as the exclusive financial advisor to Ceres in this transaction.

Ceres Enterprises is a leading developer and operator of fine select service hotels in the Midwestern United States, and is a preferred developer and operator of Marriott, Hilton, Wyndham and Choice Hotels. The repurposing of the NASA property will include a 3-story, 59-room, select-service Trademark Collection by Wyndham hotel, 92-unit Class-A apartments, a 6,638 square foot banquet and event space, a 13,117 square foot future brewery and pub, an outdoor pool, a community club room, a movie/media room, and a fitness center.

The development financing consisted of: (i) senior construction debt for the apartment conversion with Erie Bank, (ii) senior construction debt for the hotel conversion through a private loan syndication, subordinated bridge debt with Foss & Company, (iii) subordinated term debt with Cleveland Development Advisors, (iv) Federal and State Historic Tax Credit Equity with Foss & Company, (v) Property Assessed Clean Energy financing with Pace Equities and (vi) sponsor equity.

David Crisafi, president of Ceres commented, “I am extremely happy to have this project move forward in Fairview Park. I have so many people to thank, especially every city official in Fairview Park, the City of Cleveland, the Cleveland Airport, and the Metroparks. It’s going to be a great project for all. I also want to thank Brown Gibbons Lang & Company. Without their efforts, this deal would not have gotten done.”

The former NASA Glenn Research Center was built in 1963-1964 as a direct response to President Kennedy’s initiative in 1961 to make landing a man on the moon a national priority. The facilities were designed and constructed to house 1,100 staff members engaged in research and development. The engineers and staff working on this campus played a significant role in the development of the Agena, Atlas, and Centaur rocket programs, and contributed their rocket expertise directly to the manned Apollo program through the 1960s.

BGL’s Real Estate Advisors Group 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.