Avatar Financial Group provides $6.45 million bridge loan for Hotel Providence

Providence, RI Avatar Financial Group LLC (Avatar) has provided a $6.45-million bridge loan to finance the acquisition of Hotel Providence, an 80-room boutique hotel in the downtown. The two-year, first-lien loan was originated at 63% loan-to-value.

The hotel has operated without a brand affiliation since its Wyndham flag was discontinued in early 2025, and the prior owner did not complete a planned repositioning of the property as a luxury boutique destination. The resulting decline in occupancy created the opening for the sponsor, an experienced hotel owner and operator with an established presence in the local market, to acquire the hotel and improve it in stages.

Avatar is holding a portion of the loan proceeds for that work. The sponsor is investing approximately $1 million in a first-year guestroom refresh, primarily new mattresses and selected soft goods and case goods, while evaluating luxury-boutique brand affiliations. A more comprehensive property improvement program tied to the rebranding is expected to be financed separately and to repay Avatar’s bridge loan.

“This sponsor isn’t going to get another shot at a downtown Providence hotel at this basis,” said T.R. Hazelrigg IV, Avatar’s president and co-founder. “The flag came off, occupancy went with it, and the last owner walked away from the repositioning. That’s what put the building within reach of an operator who actually works this market. Now he gets to choose a brand on his own schedule instead of somebody else’s.”

Located at 139 Mathewson St., the seven-story hotel comprises three connected buildings dating to 1882, 1897 and 1994, and contains 74,276 s/f. The full-service property features a restaurant and lounge, fitness center, business center, 4,008 s/f of indoor meeting space, a 1,490 s/f outdoor terrace and an outdoor courtyard.

The historic property dates to 1882 when it debuted as the Westminster Hotel. It is in city’s Entertainment District, a few hundred feet from the Providence Performing Arts Center and within walking distance of the Rhode Island Convention Center, Amica Mutual Pavilion and Kennedy Plaza. Additional demand generators include Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design, Johnson & Wales University, Providence College, Federal Hill and Providence Place.