Each issue, the staff of the Hotel Investment Barometer features a news roundup from the hotel real estate and financing sector. Included in today’s report:
Ashford Prime share offering to fund acquisitions
Ashford Hospitality Prime launched a public offering of 8 million shares of common stock. The REIT will use the proceeds from the offering to acquire two hotels: the Pier House Resort in Key West, Florida, and the 415-room Sofitel Chicago Water Tower. Pricing of the offering was not announced. In a SEC filing, Ashford said it has agreed to acquire the Sofitel for $153 million, or $369,000 per key. The REIT previously announced its intention to buy the 142-room Pier House from Ashford Hospitality Trust. Ashford Prime didn’t release the cost of the acquisition.
L’Enfant Plaza awaits brand, closed until 2015
Washington, D.C.’s 372-room L’Enfant Plaza Hotel has been acquired by L’Enfant DC Hotel, which closed the hotel in anticipation of a major renovation. The hotel is expected to reopen in 2015.
Niagara Falls, NY Holiday Inn Express receives CMBS financing
The 87-room Holiday Inn Express in Niagara Falls, New York, has received $8.5 million in CMBS funding that carries a five-year, fixed-rate term. The non-recourse loan also features a 25-year amortization period and cash out. The hotel is owned by Mohan Saran and his partners in New York and South Carolina.
SF sees first select-service, new build property since ‘08
SOMA Hotel has acquired a site in the South of Market area in San Francisco to build a 250-room property. It would be the first new-build, upper-upscale hotel in the city since 2008. Construction is scheduled to begin during the first quarter.
Geller back in the acquisitions game
Laurence Geller, the former head of Strategic Hotels & Resorts, is leading a venture that has agreed to buy a 20-story office building in Chicago, according to a Crain’s Chicago Business report. A hotel conversion has not been confirmed, though R.W. Baird analyst David Loeb said in a research note that a conversion is possible.
Compiled by Shawn A. Turner.