Fort Lee, New Jersey -- Meecorp Capital Markets, a privately owned commercial real estate lender and investment banker specializing in value-added commercial real estate projects, today announced it has completed a three-year $4.0 million bridge loan for the purchase, reflagging and renovation of the Lexington Hotel Suites, an 11-story, 249-room full service hotel located in Kansas City, MO into Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel.

On schedule to partially open on September 15th, final renovations should be completed two months later by November 15th. When completed, the hotel will be the only high rise indoor corridor property under the Howard Johnson flag in Missouri.

The funding was made to Chino Hills, California-based MO Hotel Corp. Meecorp approved the loan for the acquisition of the property, out of foreclosure, with a loan to value ratio of 82 percent.

Kris Ramani, a principal in MO Hotel Corp. and an experience hotelier with over 15 years of experience in hospitality industry, noted that Meecorp entered the picture at exactly the right moment. "The banks consider this project a high risk," he remarked. "Meecorp jumped right into this difficult situation and worked diligently to make it happen. They were the key factor in enabling us to get to the next step."

According to Daniel Edrei, director at Meecorp Capital Markets, the urgency of the deal was not a deterrent. "This was a transaction where we felt the property merited a higher than average loan to value ratio," he said. "And, given the obvious time constraints, we had to put on a pot of coffee, roll up our sleeves, and get the job done fast".

Edrei also observed that this 'out-of-the-ordinary' situation was fairly common for Meecorp. "We regularly lend to borrowers involved in projects banks won't touch," he said. " We don't have the strict confines of a bank, and can see the forest through the trees. That's part of what makes Meecorp so unique."

The property sits on 6.7 acres of land located at 7301 Tiffany Springs Road at the southern end of the KCI corridor and approximately five miles from Kansas City International Airport.

The hotel was first built in 1973 as a Sheraton by two TWA pilots and was the first hotel to serve the then brand new Kansas City International Airport. In 1984, the property changed over to a Ramada Inn and then briefly as Lexington Hotel & Suites in 2004.