City Defers Payments for DoubleTree Hotel Loan

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The city Board of Control approved an agreement with the owner of the DoubleTree by Hilton Youngstown downtown hotel that adds the nearly $122,000 in missed payments on its loan from the city to the balloon payment to be made at the end.

Youngstown Stambaugh Hotel requested the city approve the consent, waiver and deferment agreement because it is in the process of renegotiating its financing with its two senior lenders, Kyle Miasek, city finance director, said.

The hotel owner approached the city about four weeks ago with its request.

The city provided a $700,000 loan and is in third position in the stack of financing for the $32 million project. The first of 23 missed payments was due in December 2019.

“Even though what we have with regard to a loan is small in comparison to the senior loan, because of our positioning that stack, any change in the financing needed our signature,” Miasek said.

At the same time, the city is pointing out that Youngstown Stambaugh is behind in its payments, he continued. Earlier this year, the city deferred the first 14 payments to the end of the loan.

“We are holding them accountable for that” by adding the total $121,895.08 in missed payments to date, plus penalties and interest, to the balloon payment due in December 2026, he said. The next payment is due 2023.

Miasek did not have any information on the hotel’s occupancy rates – hospitality-based businesses like the Youngstown DoubleTree were particularly hard hit during the COVID-19 pandemic – but said financial information shared with the city indicated “significant improvement in earnings” over the past three months.     

Also during the meeting, the board – which consists of Miasek, Mayor Jamael Tito Brown, and Law Director Jeff Limbian – approved $2,825 for Commercial Cabinets Inc. from the city’s COVID-19 Business Stabilization Program for eligible expenses.

So far, the city has provided $172,425 to city businesses through the program, T. Sharon Woodberry, city economic development director, said.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.