BEHIND THE DEAL: HOW WE LANDED A CONSTRUCTION LOAN FOR OUR HOTEL
We couldn’t have broken ground on Downtown San Jose’s first extended-stay hotel without a construction loan from Poppy Bank, one of Silicon Valley's larger banks by deposits in the region.
At a time when lenders generally aren’t lining up to provide construction loans for projects like ours, a 176-key Marriott TownePlace Suites named Keystone, Poppy supplied us with a $48 million one. That’s roughly half of our hotel’s total development cost. The deal came together over a four-month period ending on Jan. 30, the same day we held a groundbreaking ceremony for our project within walking distance of the site of Google’s planned 80-acre campus and three blocks from Adobe’s global headquarters.

A rendering of our eight-story hotel at the northeast corner of West San Carlos and Josefa streets.
We got in contact with Poppy after a different bank took an interest in our senior housing project a block away from Keystone. Although we couldn’t come to terms on a construction loan for that project, the bank referred us to Poppy, which has over $5 billion in assets and 20 existing branches in California, with 10 new ones — including a branch in San Jose — set to open this year, according to its website. The company’s existing and new branches are spread across the Bay Area, Southern California, and the Sacramento-Roseville area.
Poppy Bank’s lending portfolio offers permanent and ground-up construction financing for commercial real estate and Small Business Administration loans. Construction-to-perm financing lets borrowers fund their construction costs and mortgage together in one loan. We wanted to start building Keystone before constructing our senior housing, so Poppy was a good fit for us — and vice versa.
After our initial meeting with Poppy Bank at the end of September 2022, the entire process — beginning with underwriting and ending with closing the loan — went smoothly from start to finish, said Kelly McRitchie, director of our capital markets team. While talks were ongoing, the lending markets remained disrupted by elevated interest rates.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of capital out there, and I wouldn't necessarily say it was specific to just hotels, either,” McRitchie said. “The fact that we were building a hotel probably added another layer of complexity to it. But Poppy Bank saw our vision."
That vision was to build a hotel that could capture a lot of the built-in business travel demand from the construction of Google’s planned campus, according to Jeff Zuckerman, managing director of our capital markets team. The hotel would support Adobe, Zoom, and the rest of Downtown San Jose’s larger businesses. Google’s demolition subcontractor began bulldozing sites last year for its project, which is expected to increase business travel spending to the SAP Center, San Jose’s main events venue, and Diridon Station, one of the nation’s largest transit hubs.
Poppy Bank CEO Khalid Acheckzai said in a statement that “we are proud to lend to projects that support the economic development of the areas we serve — and Urban Catalyst was a pleasure to work with. We look forward to continuing to reinvest in the local community where we live and work.”
Before launching Urban Catalyst in 2018, our founding partners recognized the positive impact Google’s campus plans and Adobe’s recent headquarters expansion would have on business travel demand, which is why an extended-stay hotel has always been part of our Downtown San Jose development portfolio. Yet we couldn’t have anticipated how well the U.S.’s extended-stay hotel segment has performed during Covid compared with the hospitality industry at large. The average occupancy for extended-stay properties in 2020 was about 60 percent, roughly 16 points above the national average, according to CoStar.
More Americans have begun to travel since then, and business travel still lags behind pre-Covid levels. Yet extended-stay hotels have remained a “pandemic success story,” as CoStar described them last year. Mid-price and upscale extended-stay hotels reported record-high demand in the third quarter of 2022, according to data from consulting firm The Highland Group. And all extended-stay segments reported record-high third-quarter average daily rates, Highland’s data show.
No wonder, then, that Ryan Meliker, president of Lodging Analytics Research & Consulting, has likened extended-stay hotels to “ATMs with a roof” because they offer profit margins of about 50 percent of revenue, nearly double the industry standard.
Our demolition subcontractor began clearing the site of our extended-stay hotel around mid-February. We expect to go vertical on the eight-story project next quarter and wrap up construction in the first quarter of 2025. We continue to raise money for it through our Fund II offering. If you’d like to learn more about how to invest, contact us here.ey for it through our Fund II offering. If you’d like to learn more about how to invest, contact us here.
Want to learn more about Keystone?
Combined Fund Disclosures
THIS PRESENTATION IS CONFIDENTIAL. THE ACCEPTANCE AND RETENTION OF THIS PRESENTATION BY THE RECIPIENT SHALL CONSTITUTE AN AGREEMENT TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS SET FORTH BELOW.
THIS PRESENTATION IS NEITHER AN OFFER TO SELL NOR A SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY SECURITIES. THE OFFERING AND SALE OF INTERESTS IN URBAN CATALYST OPPORTUNITY ZONE FUND II LLC, URBAN CATALYST INDUSTRIAL I, UC MULTIFAMILY EQUITY I LLC, AND/OR UC MULTIFAMILY EQUITY II, LLC (COLLECTIVELY THE “OFFERINGS”) IS BEING MADE ONLY BY DELIVERY OF OFFERINGS’ PRIVATE PLACEMENT MEMORANDUMS (“PPMs”), CERTAIN ORGANIZATIONAL DOCUMENTS, SUBSCRIPTION AGREEMENTS AND CERTAIN OTHER INFORMATION TO BE MADE AVAILABLE TO INVESTORS (“OPERATIVE DOCUMENTS”) BY THE OFFERINGS’ SPONSOR(S). This material must be read in conjunction with the Operative Documents in order to fully understand all of the implications and risks of the offering of securities to which the Operative Documents relate. Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Attorney General of the State of New York nor any other state securities regulator has approved or disapproved of any of the securities related to these Offerings, determined if the Operative Documents are truthful or complete or passed on or endorsed the merits of the offering. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense. You may only invest in the Offerings if you are an accredited investor as defined in Rule 501 of Regulation D.
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Offering Disclosure
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Real Estate Risk Disclosure:
There is no guarantee that any strategy will be successful or achieve investment objectives including, among other things, profits, distributions, tax benefits, exit strategy, etc.; Potential for property value loss – All real estate investments have the potential to lose value during the life of the investments; Change of tax status – The income stream and depreciation schedule for any investment property may affect the property owner’s income bracket and/or tax status. An unfavorable tax ruling may cancel deferral of capital gains and result in immediate tax liabilities; Potential for foreclosure – All financed real estate investments have potential for foreclosure; Illiquidity – These assets are commonly offered through private placement offerings and are illiquid securities. There is no secondary market for these investments. Reduction or Elimination of Monthly Cash Flow Distributions – Like any investment in real estate, if a property unexpectedly loses tenants or sustains substantial damage, there is potential for suspension of cash flow distributions; Impact of fees/expenses – Costs associated with the transaction may impact investors’ returns and may outweigh the tax benefits Stated tax benefits – Any stated tax benefits are not guaranteed and are subject to changes in the tax code. Speak to your tax professional prior to investing.
- Investing in opportunity zones is speculative. Opportunity zones are newly formed entities with no operating history. There is no assurance of investment return, property appreciation, or profits. The ability to resell the fund’s underlying investment properties or businesses is not guaranteed. Investing in opportunity zone funds may involve a higher level of risk than investing in other established real estate offerings.
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UCME DISCLOSURES:
This confidential presentation (this “Presentation”) is being furnished upon request and on a confidential basis to a limited number of sophisticated investors on a “one-on-one” basis for the purpose of providing certain information about UC Multifamily Equity II, LLC (the “Fund”). This Presentation is for informational and discussion purposes only and is not, and may not be, relied on in any manner as legal, tax, investment, accounting or other advice or as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase any securities of the Fund. Any such offer or solicitation shall only be made pursuant to the final confidential private placement memorandum (as amended or supplemented from time to time, and including the subscription agreement attached thereto, the “Subscription Package”) and the Fund’s limited liability company agreement, which will be furnished to qualified investors on a confidential basis at their request and should be reviewed in connection with any consideration of an investment in the Fund. No person has been authorized to make any statement concerning the Fund other than as will be set forth in the Subscription Package and any representation or information not contained therein may not be relied upon. The information contained in this Presentation must be kept strictly confidential and may not be reproduced (in whole or in part) or redistributed in any format without the express written approval of Urban Catalyst Manager II LLC (the “Manager”). By accepting this document, the recipient agrees that it will, and will cause its representatives and advisors to, use the information only to evaluate its potential interest in the Fund and for no other purpose and will not, and will cause its representatives and advisors not to, divulge any such information to any other party. Neither the Fund nor any of its affiliates makes any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained herein and nothing contained herein should be relied upon as a promise or representation as to past or future performance of the Fund or any other entity. Any potential investor considering an investment in the Fund that is on behalf of an employee benefit plan or individual retirement account (or governmental, church, or foreign plan subject to laws similar to those governing employee benefit plans and individual retirement accounts) is strongly encouraged to consult with its own legal and tax advisers regarding the consequences of such an investment.
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NOTICE TO INVESTORS
There are substantial risks associated with the federal income tax aspects of an investment in the Company. The income tax consequences of an investment in the Company are complex and recent tax legislation has made substantial revisions to the Code. Many of these changes affect the tax benefits generally associated with an investment in real estate. A further discussion of the tax aspects (including other tax risks) of an investment in the Company is set forth in the PPM under “Federal Income Tax Consequences.” Because the tax aspects of the Offering are complex, and certain of the tax consequences may differ depending on individual tax circumstances, prospective investors are urged to consult with and rely on their own tax advisor concerning the Offering’s tax aspects and their individual situation. No representation or warranty of any kind is made with respect to the Internal Revenue Service’s (the “IRS’s”) acceptance of the treatment of any item by the Company or an investor.
It is anticipated that if the Company generates taxable income, such income will be considered UBTI. Tax-exempt entities should consult with their own tax counsel regarding the effect of any UBTI. See the PPM and “Federal Income Tax Consequences – Investment by Qualified Plans, IRAs and Tax-Exempt Entities – Unrelated Business Taxable Income.”
Congress has recently enacted several major tax bills that substantially affect the tax treatment of real estate investments including, but not limited to, the tax provisions of the CARES Act. These changes will have a substantial effect on the type of activities in which the Company intends to engage, and certain of those effects are set forth under the appropriate subheadings under “Federal Income Tax Consequences.” In many instances, Congressional Committee reports have been relied upon for the interpretation and application of these new statutory provisions. While the Code authorizes the Treasury Department to issue extensive substantive regulations regarding recently adopted Code provisions, few have been issued to date. In addition, Congress could make substantial changes in the future to the income tax consequences with respect to an investment in the Company.

