Officials with Access Point Financial, Inc., a full-service lending and advisory company focused on the hospitality industry, announced that the company has closed on a senior secured credit facility with Wells Fargo Capital Finance. The facility, combined with a substantial equity investment in Access Point by Stone Point Capital, puts the company on track to place $1 billion in loans for hotel improvement/bridge financing by 2015, in line with its initial projections.

“We are pleased to have established a relationship with Access Point Financial,” said Andrea Petro, division manager of the Lender Finance division of Wells Fargo Capital Finance. “We look forward to supporting Jon Wright and his company’s senior management team in its plans for the successful growth of their business.”

“We are in the early stages of seeing meaningful debt funding return to the hotel industry,” said Jon S. Wright, president and CEO of Access Point. “At this stage of the rebound, only the most experienced lenders and hoteliers are active, and we applaud Wells Fargo for its continued leadership in the hotel industry. This infusion from Wells Fargo Capital Finance, along with continued improvements in the hotel economy, will help us accelerate and facilitate the much-needed flow of capital to the hotel industry. This credit facility will allow us to further execute our growth plans and achieve our initial target of placing $1 billion in loans in our first three years.”

Access Point is a direct lender providing loans starting from $200,000 for CapEx up to $40 million for brand sponsored construction programs. Hotels that are executing renovation programs also can combine low-leveraged first mortgages with Access Point’s capital expenditure financing.

“We have helped our clients through every economic cycle since the savings and loan crisis of the 1990s, and that industry perspective is one of the most important things we bring to our clients,” Wright said. “Most senior hotel debt today is locked up in CMBS loans, and new debt remains difficult to obtain. Because we understand the industry and have the backing of Wells Fargo, one of the nation’s largest banks, we can help hoteliers tap into their liquidity and improve their properties, with rates and terms that reflect the value of their assets and the owner’s credit worthiness.”