Even if hotelier and Westin Casuarina (above) owner Columbia Sussex succeeds in extricating itself from Tropicana Entertainment, it’s not out of the woods by a long chalk. It may have as little as nine months (or as many as 21) to pay off a $700 million loan — or forfeit over a half-billion dollars’ worth of hotel properties.
“Covenants are being triggered by those who have bought at high [long-term value] in 2006 and 2007,” says Cedar Capital Partners veep Phil Golding, and Golding’s time frame would coincide with the $3 billion-plus spending spree that netted ColSux CEO William J. Yung III not only Aztar Corp. but 14 Wyndham-flagged hotels when the seller’s market was at its peak.
Judging by the tenor of the Property Week article, MGM Mirage also found an exquisitely inauspicious time to try and semi-reinvent itself as pure hotel operator (albeit so far only for the China and Dubai markets).
