Organization and Description of Business |
3 Months Ended |
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Mar. 31, 2021 | |
Accounting Policies [Abstract] | |
Organization and Description of Business |
1. Organization and Description of Business Sotherly Hotels Inc. (the “Company”) is a self-managed and self-administered lodging real estate investment trust (“REIT”) that was incorporated in Maryland on August 20, 2004 to own full-service, primarily upscale and upper-upscale hotels located in primary and secondary markets in the mid-Atlantic and southern United States. Currently, the Company is focused on the acquisition, renovation, upbranding and repositioning of upscale to upper-upscale full-service hotels in the southern United States. The Company’s portfolio consists of investments in twelve hotel properties comprising 3,156 rooms, as well as interests in two condominium hotels and their associated rental programs. The Company owns hotels that operate under the Hilton Worldwide, Marriott International, Inc., and Hyatt Hotels Corporation brands, as well as independent hotels. The Company commenced operations on December 21, 2004 when it completed its initial public offering and thereafter consummated the acquisition of six hotel properties (the “Initial Properties”). Substantially all of the Company’s assets are held by, and all of its operations are conducted through, Sotherly Hotels LP (the “Operating Partnership”). Pursuant to the terms of the Amended and Restated Agreement of Limited Partnership (the “Partnership Agreement”) of the Operating Partnership, the Company, as general partner, is not entitled to compensation for its services to the Operating Partnership. The Company, as general partner, conducts substantially all of its operations through the Operating Partnership and the Company’s administrative expenses are the obligations of the Operating Partnership. Additionally, the Company is entitled to reimbursement for any expenditures incurred by it on the Operating Partnership’s behalf. For the Company to qualify as a REIT, it cannot operate hotels. Therefore, the Operating Partnership, which at March 31, 2021 was approximately 92.8% owned by the Company, through its subsidiaries leases the hotels to direct and indirect subsidiaries of MHI Hospitality TRS Holding, Inc., MHI Hospitality TRS, LLC and certain of its subsidiaries (collectively, “MHI TRS Entities”), each of which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Operating Partnership. As of March 31, 2021, the MHI TRS Entities engaged Our Town Hospitality, LLC (“Our Town”), an eligible independent management company, to operate the hotels under management contracts. MHI Hospitality TRS Holding, Inc. (“MHI TRS”) is treated as a taxable REIT subsidiary for federal income tax purposes. All references in these “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements” to “we”, “us”, “our” and “Sotherly” refer to the Company, its Operating Partnership and its subsidiaries and predecessors, collectively, unless the context otherwise requires or where otherwise indicated. COVID-19, Management’s Plans and Liquidity In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) to be a global pandemic and the virus has continued to spread throughout the United States and the world. As a result of this pandemic and subsequent government mandates and health official recommendations, hotel demand has been significantly reduced. Following the government mandates and health official recommendations, we significantly reduced operations at all our hotels, temporarily suspended operations of our hotel condominium rental programs and dramatically reduced staffing and expenses. All of our hotels other than the rental programs at our condominium hotels, which were temporarily closed during April and May of 2020, remained open on a limited basis in order to serve the needs of the community. We believe that maintaining limited operations allows us to increase capacity at individual hotels as demand returns and the Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”) and state guidelines allow for an easing and eventual elimination of travel and other business restrictions, provided we can be confident that occupancy levels and reduced social distancing will not unduly jeopardize the health and safety of our guests, employees and communities. Our hotels are gradually re-introducing guest amenities relative to the return of business while focusing on profit generators and margin control. COVID-19 has had a significant negative impact on our operations and financial results both during the first quarter and the period following, including a substantial decline in our revenues, profitability and cash flows from operations compared to similar pre-pandemic periods. While the duration and full extent of the reduction in hotel demand caused by the pandemic, the contraction of operations at our hotels and other effects are highly uncertain and cannot be reasonably estimated at this time, we expect significant negative impacts on our operations and financial results to continue until travel and business restrictions are eased, travel orders are lifted, consumer confidence is restored and business travel approaches pre-pandemic levels. At a minimum, the Company expects the COVID-19 pandemic to continue to have a significant negative impact on our results of operations, financial position and cash flow through 2021. In response to those negative impacts, we immediately took a number of actions to reduce costs and preserve liquidity. The Company’s board of directors suspended quarterly cash dividends on shares of the Company’s common stock and deferred payment of dividends on its 8.0% Series B Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Stock (the “Series B Preferred Stock”), 7.875% Series C Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Stock (the “Series C Preferred Stock”), and 8.25% Series D Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Stock (the “Series D Preferred Stock”). We immediately suspended most planned capital expenditure projects, and reduced the compensation of our executive officers, board of directors and employees. Working closely with our hotel managers, we significantly curtailed our hotels’ operating expenses. We also sought and obtained forbearance and loan modification agreements with lenders under the mortgages for all our hotel properties.
As of March 31, 2021, we failed to meet the financial covenants under the mortgages secured by each of the DoubleTree by Hilton Philadelphia Airport and The Whitehall. We have received waivers of the financial covenants under the applicable mortgages from (i) the lender on the DoubleTree by Hilton Philadelphia Airport through September 30, 2021; and (ii) the lender on The Whitehall mortgage through June 30, 2022. See the discussion of forbearance, modifications, and waivers in Note 4.
As of March 31, 2021, we failed to meet the financial covenants under the mortgage secured by the DoubleTree by Hilton Jacksonville Riverfront, the DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hollywood Beach and the Georgian Terrace, which triggered a “cash trap” under the loan documents relating to each of these properties requiring substantially all the revenue generated by those hotels to be deposited directly into lockbox accounts and swept into cash management accounts for the benefit of the respective lenders until each property meets the criteria in the relevant loan agreement for exiting the “cash trap”. Provided we continue to meet certain terms and conditions, the lender has waived the “cash trap” with respect to the DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hollywood Beach and we are in negotiations with the lender on the DoubleTree by Hilton Jacksonville Riverfront for a waiver of the “cash trap”. Additionally, in order to receive forbearance from the lenders on the DoubleTree by Hilton Raleigh Brownstone – University and the Hyatt Centric Arlington, we agreed to “cash traps”, which will continue until the properties meet the criteria in the forbearance agreements for exiting the “cash traps”.
As of March 31, 2021, the Company had approximately $21.1 million in unrestricted cash and approximately $11.9 million in restricted cash. In addition, we have the option to obtain $10.0 million in additional proceeds from the sale of additional Secured Notes to the Investors described below.
On April 30, 2021, we entered into a loan modification and reinstatement agreement with the mortgage lender for the DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Hollywood Beach pursuant to which we agreed with the lender to amend and reinstate the promissory note and loan agreement on revised terms. Under the amended loan agreement and promissory note the Company paid to the lender contemporaneously with the closing of the amendment and reinstatement an aggregate amount of approximately $4 million made up of (i) tax and insurance reserves required to be funded in certain reserve accounts in the aggregate amount of approximately $2.5 million; (ii) a lump sum payment of approximately $1.3 million in respect of amounts owed by us relating to payments for the period from January through March 2021; (iii) certain FF&E reserve amounts required to be deposited with the lender; and (iv) certain other fees and expenses. In addition, we agreed to (a) begin regular monthly payments on May 1, 2021; (b) pay the aggregate amount owed by the Company relating to deferred monthly payments for the period from April through December 2020 in 24 equal monthly installments of $119,591.36 beginning on January 1, 2021 and continuing through December 2022; and (c) certain other amended terms, including to restrict the borrower under the promissory note from making any distributions until all such deferred payments have been made. In consideration for the payments made at closing and the other amended terms the loan agreement, promissory note and other loan documents thereunder were amended and reinstated in accordance with their respective terms and conditions and the lender agreed to certain accommodations, including the waiver of the cash sweep period trigger for a period of time and to forbear in collection of default interest and late payment charges accrued and unpaid under the loan agreement and promissory note, provided that in the event of a future default those amounts will become due immediately and the waivers will no longer be effective. See “Note 13 – Subsequent Events” for additional information. The duration and extent of the reduction in hotel demand caused by the pandemic and the return to normalized operations creates corresponding uncertainty regarding our future cash flows. Accordingly, the Company is unable to accurately forecast its cash flows and available liquidity to meet its obligations for operating expenses, planned capital expenditures and scheduled payments of principal and interest – including scheduled repayments of deferred principal and interest. Uncertainty in the timing and extent of the return to normalized operations may also result in non-compliance with financial covenants for which the Company has not already received a waiver over the next four to six quarters. U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”) requires that, when preparing financial statements for each annual and interim reporting period, management evaluate whether there are conditions or events, considered in the aggregate, that raise substantial doubt regarding the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the date the financial statements are issued. Due to the uncertainties described above related to future cash flows and resulting compliance with the financial covenants under our mortgage loans, the Company determined that there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern. The consolidated financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern and do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty. Overview of Significant Transactions Significant transactions occurring during the current and prior fiscal year include the following:
The Operating Partnership and certain of its subsidiaries have received PPP Loans administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration pursuant to the CARES Act. Each PPP Loan has a term of five years and carries an interest rate of 1.00%. Equal payments of principal and interest begin no later than 10 months following origination of the loan and are amortized over the remaining term of the loan. Pursuant to the terms of the CARES Act, the proceeds of each PPP Loan may be used for payroll costs, mortgage interest, rent or utility costs. The promissory note for each PPP Loan contains customary events of default relating to, among other things, payment defaults and breach of representations and warranties or of provisions of the relevant promissory note. Under the terms of the CARES Act, each borrower can apply for and be granted forgiveness for all or a portion of the PPP Loan. Such forgiveness will be determined, subject to limitations, based on the use of loan proceeds in accordance with the terms of the CARES Act. No assurance is provided that any borrower will obtain forgiveness under any relevant PPP Loan in whole or in part. On April 16, 2020, our Operating Partnership entered into a promissory note with Village Bank in connection with a PPP Loan and received proceeds of $333,500. On April 28, 2020, we entered into a promissory note and received proceeds of $9,432,900 under a PPP Loan from Fifth Third Bank, National Association. On May 6, 2020, we entered into a second promissory note with Fifth Third Bank, National Association and received proceeds of $952,700 under a PPP Loan.
On December 31, 2020, we closed a transaction with KWHP SOHO, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“KW”), as collateral agent and an investor, and MIG SOHO, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“MIG”, and together with KW, the “Investors”), as an investor, whereby the Investors purchased $20.0 million in Secured Notes from the Operating Partnership with an option to require the Investors to purchase an additional $10.0 million in Secured Notes. We entered into the following agreements: (i) a Note Purchase Agreement; (ii) a Secured Note with KW in the amount of $10.0 million and a Secured Note with MIG in the amount of $10.0 million; (iii) a Pledge and Security Agreement; (iv) a Board Observer Agreement; and (v) other related ancillary agreements. The Secured Notes mature in 3 years and will be payable on or before the maturity date at the rate of 1.47x the principal amount borrowed during the initial 3-year term, with a 1-year extension at Company’s option. The Secured Notes also carry a 6.0% current interest rate, payable quarterly during the initial 3-year term. Certain subsidiaries of the Operating Partnership entered into the Pledge Agreement with KW, pursuant to which we agreed to pledge and grant to KW a first priority security interest in the equity interests, including certain voting rights, of our affiliates that own The DeSoto hotel, Hotel Ballast Wilmington, and the DoubleTree by Hilton Philadelphia Airport hotel (collectively, the “Pledged Collateral”). Upon an uncured monetary event of default under the Secured Notes, KW, as collateral agent, has a right to sell, lease or otherwise dispose of or realize upon the Pledged Collateral in order to satisfy any amounts outstanding under the Secured Notes. Pursuant to the Board Observer Agreement, the Company granted KW the option and the right, while the Secured Notes remain outstanding, to appoint a single representative to attend meetings of the Company’s board of directors and its committees in a non-voting, observer capacity only.
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