The West Hotel in Minnesota Overcomes Foreclosure Obstacles

The North Loop initiative plans to restart its construction efforts by the end of this year.

The West Hotel project in North Loop has been inactive since last summer due to lender-related issues that halted progress. Despite widespread speculation within the development community about the project’s potential failure, the leaders, operating under Commutator Partners, have secured new funding and are preparing to continue work on the historic renovation of several buildings on North 2nd Street.

In an exclusive conversation with TCB last week, co-founders John Gross and David Wilson detailed the financial and construction setbacks that challenged the project. Formerly known as the Commutator project, named after the historic Commutator foundry building at its center, the 123-room hotel with restaurant options led by chef Tim McKee was scheduled for completion last year. However, construction slowed as the complexities of the historic restoration became apparent.

“There was a 10-month delay during the foundation work,” Wilson explains. More rock had to be excavated than initially anticipated. The foundry’s foundation was shallow and deteriorated. A specialized team from Indiana, which had relocated another building on the site, returned to raise the structure and install new foundations. The adjacent Jetset building at 115 N. 2nd St. had a foundation that interfered with the development, but due to its age, modifications could not be made. The directors eventually acquired the building to use it as event space for the hotel. Overall, the project faced nearly a year of delays and seven-figure cost overruns on the $62 million project.

Commutator had an 18-month mortgage with Broadmark Capital, a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) based in Seattle. Although the mortgage included an extension option that Commutator sought to use, the lender was in the process of being acquired and did not grant the extension, which expired in April. Broadmark’s buyer, Ready Capital of New York, deemed the project unsuitable and advised Commutator to seek a new lender. This occurred amid the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, fluctuating interest rates, and lenders’ concerns about mortgage defaults in downtown areas.

Ready Capital filed a foreclosure lawsuit in the summer, resulting in negative publicity for the project. However, Wilson points out that Ready halted foreclosure actions to allow the directors to secure new financing, which they achieved in mid-December when Onward Investors of Edina purchased Ready’s debt. The new debt comes with different interest rates due to market conditions. “They’re high, but manageable with our proformas,” Gross states.

Onward has confidence in the project because most of the major construction risks are now behind it, and it is one of the last available sites in North Loop. “We stepped in to give them a chance to move forward,” says partner Jon Lanners. “We’re an opportunistic commercial real estate investment firm, so this checked a lot of boxes.”

The project is 65% complete but requires another year of construction: masonry, windows, drywall, interiors. However, all major or underground work is finished. Onward is not funding the remaining construction, so Gross and Wilson are seeking a construction loan, which they expect to secure soon, allowing Commutator to resume work in the summer, with an opening planned for mid-2025.

“What keeps us very optimistic is that the new Four Seasons hotel has changed the rate ecosystem,” Wilson says, significantly increasing what high-end travelers are willing to pay for a five-star experience. “It has substantially improved our proformas,” adds Wilson, who notes that downtown business travel, still slow, was never part of Commutator’s business plan. “Our numbers look as good or better than they did two years ago.”

By Elias DaSilva | September 16, 2024.