UNITED STATES Lend Lease Corp. Limited Ltd. is beginning the second phase of a program to renovate, develop and sustain on-post lodging facilities at 11 more U.S. Army installations. Actus will invest US$600 million toward the effort.
The second phase will involve approximately 5,000 new guestrooms, complementing the planned 4,000 guestrooms in the first phase. IHG is the hotel operator for the project.
The Private Army Lodging program, which is being executed in three phases, is part of an ongoing initiative of the U.S. Army to improve the quality of life for soldiers, their families and government travelers. The second phase will invest approximately US$350 million in development and construction of new rooms, with an additional US$250 million to be spent upgrading existing hotels. Actus will arrange up to US$1 billion in financing to complete the transaction, which is expected to reach financial close in the second half of 2011.
Actus closed on the first phase of the project in August 2009, which included the refurbishment and management of 62 lodging facilities across 10 U.S. Army installations. The program recently opened the first Holiday Inn Express hotel on a military installation at Fort Polk, Louisiana, and expects to brand four more Holiday Inn Express hotels by this spring. All facilities awarded in the PAL program operate under the name IHG Army Hotels.
Actus will renovate several hotels in the U.S. Army lodging portfolio to bring existing facilities up to Holiday Inn Express standards. Actus is planning construction of several additional hotels under IHG’s Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites brands.