FOR decades, hotels seemed as intrinsic to the landscape of the island of Martha’s Vineyard as its wide beaches and finger-shaped lagoons. Ditto for Nantucket, 10 miles farther out to sea to the southeast, where bed-and-breakfast places and stately inns crowded the wide cobblestone streets. Yet in an increasingly common trend, many of these longtime lodgings are either closing outright or drastically scaling back the number and availability of their rooms.
Three weeks after closing on its $850-million acquisition of Winston Hotels Inc., Oak Brook-based Inland American has agreed to buy Apple Hospitality Five Inc., a Richmond, Va.-based owner of 28 hotels with 3,717 rooms. The transaction is valued at $709 million, including the assumption of debt. The fourth real estate investment trust (REIT) in Inland Group Inc.’s far-flung property empire, Inland American has been on an acquisition binge over the past year or so, buying everything from shopping centers to apartment buildings. More recently, the firm has taken an interest in hotels, a hot sector with soaring occupancies, room rates and property values. The acquisition of Winston, a hotel REIT, included 53 hotels in 18 states.
The building has been vacant since Everitt Knitting went out of business in early 2004. Everitt Knitting, founded in 1910, made hats, scarves, mittens, blankets and other items. Pieper is serving as the developer for the $6.6 million renovation of the building's shell and core, which is under way. Part of the building is six stories tall and part of it is seven stories tall. Tenants will be able to move into the building next year.
Morgan Stanley Real Estate announced today that it has completed the acquisition of eight European Hilton hotels. The completion of the sale of two further hotels -- Hilton Brussels and Hilton Zurich -- is expected by the end of the third quarter 2007. The acquisition price for all 10 hotels is €566 million.
PRIVATE deal makers still seem to have a voracious appetite for commercial real estate, and the sector du jour is hotels and lodging.The largest deal was announced this month, when the Blackstone Group said it was buying the Hilton Hotels Corporation for $26 billion, including debt.
NEW YORK (AP) - Mercury Real Estate Advisors raises its stake in Boston-based hotel operator Sonesta International Hotels to just under ten percent. Mercury also reiterated its call for the company to sell its assets to a third party.
Landmark Group of Hotels, a regional hotel management company, a part of Zenath Real Estate, has recently announced the opening of the ‘Landmark Suites’, a four-star deluxe hotel located on the Corniche Road in Ajman. The new hotel group is a part of Landmark's aggressive expansion program in high-growth areas of the UAE, and also reflects Ajman's growing prominence as a leisure and business destination in the Middle East.
MGM Mirage (MGM) is exploring options for 85 acres of prime real estate in Atlantic City, N.J., that the casino operator has left vacant since it acquired the land seven years ago. The company is mulling a development similar to its sprawling $7.4 billion CityCenter project under construction on the Las Vegas strip. It will feature condos, boutique hotels, a resort casino, and a retail and entertainment district.
Legacy Hotels Real Estate Investment Trust, owners of the Fairmont Royal York and Quebec City's the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac, agreed yesterday to be acquired in an all-cash deal valued at $2.5-billion, including debt. The Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, Westmont Hospitality Group, and InnVest Real Estate Investment Trust have partnered to acquire all of the shares in Legacy.
NJ-CapStar Hotel Co., formed less than a year ago, has picked up its third hotel property in the form of the Courtyard by Marriott Secaucus, a 167-key asset here. The sellers were affiliates of the Blackstone Group, and the sale price was not released.
The two four-star hotels are at Port Stephens, just north of Newcastle, and in Southern Highlands at Sutton Forest. They are run by Peppers Leisure Ltd but owned by the Australian share market-listed Australian Hotel Fund (AHF).
"Hotels appear cheap relative to other real estate asset classes," Susquehanna Financial Group analysts wrote in a research note on Thursday. "We believe that investors see hotels as a risk-adjusted 'bargain' relative to other asset classes, such as office buildings, malls, and apartments."
BOSTON (Reuters) - Hotel buyouts are proving a bonanza for mutual funds which snapped up Hilton, Marriott and other hotel stocks after the September 11, 2001, attacks. Private-equity firm Blackstone Group's (BX.N) $20 billion bid for Hilton Hotels Corp. (HLT.N) on Tuesday sparked a 27 percent rise in shares of the second-biggest U.S. hotel chain over Thursday and Friday, and boosted those of Hilton's rivals.
Fresh off a $4.1 billion initial public offering, private-equity house Blackstone Group solidified its position as a power to reckon with on Wall Street with a multibillion deal that gives the company control over a hotel empire with more than 600,000 rooms worldwide.
Singers Britney Spears, Paul McCartney, Sting and Paul Simon have all traveled to Sri Lanka for a big-bucks taste of tropical luxury. But an escalating war with Tamil Tiger rebels and increasingly gruesome headlines on the human- rights situation means that the rich are now staying away -- and rooms in the island's boutique hotels are going for a song.
