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1. Westin New York Grand Central receives $216 million refinancing package
Investment firms Bain Capital and Smith Hill Capital have completed a $216 million refinancing round for the 774-room Westin New York Grand Central, CoStar News' Bryan Wroten reports. The property is on East 42nd St. one block from the Grand Central rail station, which added the hotel was acquired by the partners in 2019 and was last renovated in 2021.
"The Westin Grand Central is a flagship property in one of the world's most dynamic lodging markets,” said Brendan McCormick, managing principal at Smith Hill Capital, in a news release. “Its proximity to Grand Central Terminal and Midtown's largest employers makes it a cornerstone asset for both business and leisure travel.”
2. Barceló forms investment joint venture with KanAm for upscale push
Balearic Islands’ based hotel firm Barceló Hotel Group has entered into a joint venture with Frankfurt-based investment firm KanAm Grund Group to develop upscale hotels in Western and Northern Europe, notably in DACH and Benelux nations, but also in France, Ireland, Italy and the United Kingdom. KanAm’s investment divisions includes EURAMCO Holding GmbH.
Barceló has four hotel brands — Barceló Hotels & Resorts, Occidental Hotels & Resorts, Allegro Hotels and Royal Hideaway Luxury Hotels & Resorts — and, according to its website, 300 hotels and more than 66,000 rooms in 30 countries. In Europe, it has 131 hotels in 16 countries.
In a news release, KanAm said the partners’ development strategy will “range from a change of operator and/or refurbishment CapEx actions up to a full redevelopment strategy, including conversion from office to hotel.”
3. US hotels post negative metrics while Canada sees mixed results
U.S. hotel performance for the week ending Sept. 25 was negative year over year, according to CoStar hospitality data. In the period, U.S. hotel occupancy dropped 4.2% to 65.6%, average daily rate dropped 2.5% to $166.48 and revenue per available room dropped 6.6% to $109.15.
Of the top 25 markets, only one saw positivity across all three metrics. St. Louis hotels posted an occupancy increase of 8.5% to 69.5%, and ADR increase of 2.9% to $133.42 and a RevPAR increase of 11.6% to $92.69.
In the same period, hotels in Canada saw a decrease of 1.2% in occupancy to 77.9%, but increases in both ADR — 2.4% to 235.80 Canadian dollars ($169.24). RevPAR grew 1.2% to CA$183.73. Québec was the only Canadian province with hotel performance declines across all three data points. Hotel occupancy fell 3.5% to 81.3%, ADR fell 3.7% to CA$256.54 and its RevPAR fell 7.1% to CA$208.65.
4. Aman hotel to open in 2028 in Singapore’s highest tower
Hotel firm Aman is to open its fourth urban resort in Singapore’s highest tower, with both opening in 2028, according to The Straits Times. The Aman Singapore will occupy part of the 63-floor, 1,000-foot-high The Skywaters at 8 Shenton Way, which is being developed by a consortium headed up by Singapore-based Perennial Real Estate Holdings. Its design is being handled by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which also was responsible for that of the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa, Dubai.
According to the newspaper, Aman has not announced how many rooms the hotel will have or how many floors the hotel will occupy. The tower is connected to the city’s Tanjong Pagar MRT rail station via an underground pedestrian network. According to CoStar, The Skywaters will be a refurbishment and extension of the current 52-story 8 Shenton Way Axa Tower, owned by Perennial.
5. US government impasse continues as neither side blinks
The partial shutdown of the U.S. government, which started Wednesday, moves into its second day with neither side compromising. The New York Times reported President Donald Trump's administration "took steps … to maximize the pain of the government shutdown, halting billions of dollars in funds for Democratic-led states while readying a plan to lay off potentially droves of civil servants imminently.”
Those redundancies could start within days, the New York Times added.
Fox News reiterated the notion that the impasse would give room for the Trump administration to further implement changes it states are necessary to trim what it sees as a wasteful spending. The news agency said “[Trump] has underscored that he and his allies did not want the government to shut down, but that it opened the door for some ‘good’ that could come from it.”