Pine Tree Investment & Management has acquired an approved site for a 200-room hotel in North San Jose for $27.6 million.
An affiliate of the South Korea-based investor bought the 3.2-acre lot after acquiring a delinquent loan for 7 Topgolf Drive in the Alviso district, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
The sale came after the affiliate, Sol San Jose Owner, took over the delinquent loan for $26.4 million this month to South Korea-based hotel planner Mirae-San Jose.
Mirae-San Jose paid $22.5 million in 2019 for the boomerang-shaped site, north of Highway 237 and the Guadalupe River, next to the Topgolf San Jose driving range. That year, it won approval for the hotel project, which then stalled during the pandemic.
The firm’s loan went into default in October. At the time of the foreclosure proceeding, the Mirae-San Jose development group owed $34.9 million in unpaid debt.
Pine Tree Specialized Private Investment Trust and KEB Hana Bank, which financed the vacant lot, had filed a default notice and began to foreclose on the loan. The Pine Tree affiliate was assigned ownership of the mortgage.
Through a trustee’s deed, the affiliate of Pine Tree Investment paid $27.6 million to buy the land following the foreclosure proceeding.
The proposed hotel, to include a 15,400-square-foot retail building, was eyed for development by Shilla Stay, an affiliate of Samsung Group, which had proposed the four-story hotel.
The gray and white hotel, designed by Corbel Architects, has banks of large vertical windows and a porte cochere over the lobby driveway, which leads past the entrance to an underground garage, according to a rendering.
Pine Tree Investment, based in Seoul, is now in a position to develop the hotel.
It would benefit from Topgolf, which opened in 2021 and has been a steady draw as an entertainment, sports and dining center, according to the Mercury News.
The Dallas-based Topgolf operates high-tech driving ranges that allow people to hit golf balls equipped with microchips that record distance and accuracy. The complexes offer watering holes and dining in combination with the driving range.
— Dana Bartholomew
Read more
