Actus Lend Lease, a subsidiary of Australian investment company, Lend Lease Corporation, has been awarded a contract for the second phase of the Army Lodging Program that involves privatisation of 11 US Army installation hotel properties as part of the Privatisation of the Army Lodging Program (PAL), according to a press release issued by the company.
The second phase is expected to transfer a total of 5,000 rooms to the project company, in addition to 4,000 rooms that were transferred in the first phase, bringing the total number of rooms to 9,000. Actus is working closely with the Intercontinental Hotel Group, which will serve as the property manager for the project, the press release stated.
The three-phase PAL program is part of an ongoing initiative of the US Army to improve the quality of life for soldiers, their families and government travellers, the press release stated. Actus will make an investment of approximately $350 million for the development and construction of 5,000 hotel rooms. As part of the transaction, an additional $250 million will be spent on the existing hotels in the programme’s first phase.
According to the press release, Actus is aiming to arrange up to $1 billion in financing to complete the transaction. The second phase of the project is expected to reach financial close in the second half of 2011.Â
In August 2009, Actus reached financial close for the first phase of the PAL project which included the refurbishment and management of 62 lodging facilities across 10 US Army installations. In addition to the PAL program, Actus Lend Lease has worked extensively with the Department of Defence on its Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI), a programme that provides for the transfer of military housing assets to private-sector companies.