Hilton SF Union Square, Parc 55 owners stopping payments on loan, firm announces

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Another blow is being dealt to downtown San Francisco. The investment firm that owns Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Parc 55 hotels is walking away from its debt and surrendering them to its lender.

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Park Hotels & Resorts has opted to cease payments on a $725 million loan, according to a press release.

“The Company intends to work in good faith with the loan’s servicers to determine the most effective path forward, which is expected to result in ultimate removal of these hotels from its portfolio.”

The 1,921-room Hilton San Francisco Union Square is the city’s largest hotel, occupying an entire city block. Parc 55 has 1,024 rooms.

The firm cited the continued debt burden of the two hotels on its portfolio and multiple factors that have made the San Francisco market less desirable for their business.

Park Hotels & Resort’s statement says, in part:

“This past week we made the very difficult, but necessary decision to stop debt service payments on our San Francisco CMBS loan,” commented Thomas J. Baltimore, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Park. “After much thought and consideration, we believe it is in the best interest for Park’s stockholders to materially reduce our current exposure to the San Francisco market. Now more than ever, we believe San Francisco’s path to recovery remains clouded and elongated by major challenges – both old and new: record high office vacancy; concerns over street conditions; lower return to office than peer cities; and a weaker than expected citywide convention calendar through 2027 that will negatively impact business and leisure demand and will likely significantly reduce compression in the city for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, the continued burden on our operating results and balance sheet is too significant to warrant continuing to subsidize and own these assets.

Ultimately removing the loan and the hotels will substantially improve our balance sheet and operating metrics, as net leverage is reduced by nearly a full turn, while 2022 Comparable RevPAR and Comparable Hotel Adjusted EBITDA Margin as compared to 2019 would improve approximately 800 basis points and 230 basis points, respectively. In addition, reducing the negative overhang from San Francisco will allow Park to continue to focus on our key priorities to reshape our portfolio by selling non-core assets, and recycling capital to reduce leverage, invest in strategic ROI projects, and opportunistically repurchase stock and/or acquire assets.”