Optimum Hotel Brokerage Sells Westport Inn in Westport, Connecticut

Optimum Hotel Brokerage announced today that the firm has closed on the sale of the Westport Inn in affluent Westport, Connecticut. The 115-room independent boutique hotel occupies a prominent location on the Post Road in the tony suburban coastal enclave, home to Wall Street executives, celebrities and multi-billion dollar hedge funds. Joe McCann, president of Philadelphia-based Optimum Hotel Brokerage represented the seller in the transaction. The Fairfield County landmark was purchased by a New York-based owner and developer. The property occupies more than three acres and features an indoor pool, fitness facility, meeting space, and restaurant and lounge.

The Shattuck Hotel: Berkeley’s Once and Future Jewel?

If Berkeley has a heart, it must be located on the 2200 block of Shattuck Avenue between Kittredge St. and Allston Way. This is the site that Berkeley’s founder, Francis Kittredge Shattuck, chose as his homestead.

Although the Gold Rush lured him to California, Shattuck (1824–1898) made his fortune by other means. In 1852, he teamed up with George Blake, William Hillegass, and James Leonard to file a claim on a square mile in what is now central Berkeley.

Hilton signs agreement for 15 hotels in Turkey

Hilton Hotels Corporation has signed an agreement with Amplio Real Estate Investment and Development A.Ş., that envisages establishing 15 new hotels with room capacity of 2,500 in various locations around Turkey.

The first hotels to be managed by Hilton will be Hampton by Hilton and Hilton Inn hotels in Manisa and Diyarbakır and are expected to be complete within five years.

Hilton Hotels European President Wolfgang M. Neumann stressed that signing such "multi-hotel" agreements strengthens the corporation's leading position in hotel management and these agreements is a sign of the firm's strategy in emerging markets that are key points like Turkey. He described the agreement with Amplio as an approach to their goal of opening 1000 new hotels in the next 10 years.

Trump fired up about Toronto tower

The Donald flew into Toronto in his private jet today to break ground on the 57-storey Trump International Hotel & Tower.

“This will be one of the great buildings in the world,” New York developer Donald Trump told a small tented audience on the Bay St. site of the proposed skyscraper at the intersection of Bay and Adelaide Sts. in the city’s financial district.

Hotel Investors Pack Up

Worries about the credit crunch and an economic slowdown are lodged into the minds of hotel investors. The credit crunch has pressured the companies' asset values, and a weakening economy may cut profits over the next year. That has led real estate investors to wonder just how much profit power hotel owners and operators will have over the next year. Arabia says the market is concerned about how much the broader economy's weakness - particularly within financial services firms -- will affect the hotel industry. Financial firms, in particular, are major business-travel customers that have absorbed hotel room rate increases in recent years.

Inland American Lodging Buys 248-Key Hilton Hotel

GAINESVILLE, FL-Orlando-based Inland American Lodging Corp. has acquired the 248-room University of Florida Hilton Hotel. The hotel was acquired from Cornerstone Real Estate Advisors LLC. The acquisition price was not released, but the property is valued at more than $20 million, according to public records. Inland American Lodging Corp. is a subsidiary of Oak Brook, IL-based Inland American Real Estate Trust Inc. The hotel will remain a Hilton property and will be managed by Memphis-based Davidson Hotel Co. “Investors were attracted to the Hilton’s overall quality, extensive conference center facilities and the consistent demand base generated by its University of Florida orientation,” says Molinaro Koger senior vice president Ali Baheri. Washington, DC-based Molinaro Koger represented Cornerstone Real Estate Advisors.