ALLAMUCHY, NJ-Optimum Hotel Brokerage closed on the $2.2-million sale of the Inn at Panther Valley, a 100-unit boutique hotel located here. Optimum Hotel’s president, Joe McCann, was the exclusive agent for the seller, in cooperation with the property’s lender, a large regional bank.

“Being an active hotel broker in New Jersey, we were very familiar with the hotel and the market,” McCann tells GlobeSt.com. “The hotel was in great condition and managed by a capable owner, but temporary market conditions had caused it to experience financial distress. After meeting with the owner and the bank, we proposed a tailored and targeted marketing strategy, optimizing the property’s value in this challenging transaction environment.” He adds that the bank had been previously considering an auction process to dispose of the asset, but agreed that an intensified marketing approach would achieve the highest value.

“The hotel was closed and had limited branding potential,” McCann says. “But our expanded marketing strategy reached an assisted living operator who recognized the property’s value for that use. The end result was a transaction at a price more than 50% over the bank’s estimate of auction value.”