SLS Hotel?

Sammy "The Bull" Nazarian can't buy his way out of this one.

Last year, reporters were asking questions about the financial health of Sam Nazarian's SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills, and wondering how the nightlife and hotel operator would pay off the debt on the Philippe Starck-designed project.

Today, the Wall Street Journal reports he has restructured the debt on the hotel, news which was put out in a press release by Nazarian himself.

Via the WSJ: "The hotel's $70 million mortgage came due last November, and the hotel fell short of certain financial thresholds needed to qualify for an automatic extension. The SLS carries a total of $139 million in debt, including a mezzanine loan held by Washington Holdings and preferred equity held by Lowe Enterprises.

Mr. Nazarian recently resolved the impasse when his family's Nazarian Enterprises agreed to pay $13.5 million of the mortgage's balance and contribute another $5 million to fees and costs related to the loan, he said in an interview.

In return, the special servicer overseeing the mortgage, Orix Capital Markets, agreed to extend the loan's due date to 2013, leaving its interest rate unchanged, according to credit-rating company Realpoint LLC."

Now do you guys honestly believe that you are gonna get that "$1,000" for coming up with a new name for his new venue?

He may just pay the winners of the contest off in pennies, and hope that they can't count pass 350 (which would equal $3.50). Quite a savings for him.

Oh well.

This will be my last post, until my next post.