US hotel real estate sales set for slide of up to 50%

Sales of US hotels are expected to fall as much as 50 per cent this year because the credit squeeze has reshaped investors' ability to purchase real estate, says a report due for release today.

The value of hotel property sales is expected to fall to $23bn-$26bn, down from a record $45bn in 2007, as deals become more difficult, according to real estate brokers Jones Lang Lasalle. The expected slide in sales would more than undo last year's 38 per cent rise.

"The credit crunch has halted mega-deals and many portfolio deals," the report will say.

Hilton Garden Inn hotel has broken ground in Riverview

Scheduled to open in January 2009, the upscale but mid-priced property will feature 119 guest rooms, 4,000 square-feet of flexible meeting space, a workout facility and an indoor-outdoor swimming pool, said a release from GS Development LLC, a Tifton, Ga.-based multi-brand hotel company.

The property also includes a restaurant and an on site guest laundry facility and wireless high-speed Internet access and other amenities.

A $45 million 'village' Publishers plan hotels in Intercourse

The owners of an Intercourse publishing company Monday unveiled a $45 million development plan designed to upgrade accommodations for the hundreds of thousands of people who visit the small village each year.
Merle and Phyllis Good, owners of Good Enterprises Ltd., which includes a publishing company, showed Leacock Township supervisors architectural sketches of an ambitious project they call Village Green. It would be built on 26.6 acres adjacent to its publishing business, Good Books, in the 3500 block of Old Philadelphia Pike.

Moyer remaking derelict hotel into biz-class accommodations

The Cornelius Hotel, at Southwest Alder Street and Park Avenue, was built in 1908 and sports a grand lobby but has been closed for several years. Moyer acquired the historic property in 2002 for $2.4 million, according to Multnomah County property records.

The hotel is being renovated by Moyer's firm, TMT Development Co., in partnership with TVA Architects.

Somerset park project

Highlands Real Estate Development, which owns the property where the park and hotel project would have been built, released few details on why it canceled the project, which reportedly would have cost several million dollars more than expected.

Pam Wolfe, president of the development company, which Aldom said also owns the Ramada Inn in Ligonier and the Days Inn in Donegal, did not respond to a call for comment.

GIC Holds Talks to Buy

The Government of Singapore Investment Corp., more commonly known as GIC, is in advanced discussions to purchase the hotel, but a deal hasn't been sealed and no price has been agreed to, the person said. Morgan Stanley acquired the property, located in Tokyo's fashionable Ebisu district, in 2004 for about 50 billion yen ($469.6 million).