LEBANON, N.H. — Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide’s eco-wise Element brand has opened its first hotel in New Hampshire. Located at 25 Foothill Road in Lebanon, Element Hanover-Lebanon features 120 guestrooms, a 24-hour fitness center, an indoor saline swimming pool and a meeting room with modular furnishings. The hotel, which is managed by True North Hotel Group, is a key anchor of Altaria Business Park, a mixed-used complex being developed by Norwich Partners. Once complete, the complex will include 300,000 square feet of research and office space, 42,000 square feet of retail space, up to 160 residential units, and conservation land.
PLANO and SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS — NewcrestImage has acquired two Hyatt Place hotels in Texas. The first is a 127-room property on Dallas Parkway in Plano, and the second is a 126-room property on Hyatt Park Drive in San Antonio. Both properties span six floors with amenities including a gym, business center, outdoor pool and flexible meeting space. Hyatt Place in Plano is located in the Dallas Platinum Corridor office district. There are more than 40 million square feet of office space within five miles of the hotel, including the corporate headquarters of JC Penney, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Frito-Lay, Pizza Hut and Mary Kay. Hyatt Place in San Antonio is located along I-10, adjacent to the 288-acre headquarters of the United States Automobile Association. Also within five miles are the headquarters of Valero Energy Corp., the University of Texas at San Antonio and the South Texas Medical Center.
SAN ANTONIO — Equity Inc., Equity Velocity Fund I and 2GR Equity LLC have formed a joint venture to acquire Huebner Medical Center I & II. The 166,167-square-foot medical center is situated on 11 acres at the South Texas Medical Center located at 9150 Huebner Road in San Antonio. A major tenant is Methodist Ambulatory Surgical Hospital, which operates a 48,000-square-foot, 28-bed hospital on site.
CARMEL VALLEY, CALIF. – The 15-room Blue Sky Lodge in Carmel Valley has sold to a team of veteran hoteliers for $2.2 million. The hotel is located at 10 Flight Road. The sale also included two vacant parcels adjacent to the hotel. The buyers plan to redevelop both the existing hotel and the vacant parcels. They were represented by Rick Lahkar of Marcus & Millichap’s Oakland office. The seller was not named.
NASHVILLE, TENN. — Pebblebrook Hotel Trust has purchased Union Station Hotel, Autograph Collection in downtown Nashville for $52.3 million. The 125-room hotel is located on Broadway in Nashville’s central business district adjacent to the Frist Center for Visual Arts and Vanderbilt University. Pebblebrook has tapped Sage Hospitality to operate the hotel. The hotel first opened in 1900 as L&N Railroad Station and was converted into a hotel in 1986. The hotel underwent an $11 million renovation in 2007 and a $1.9 million renovation to convert the property to an Autograph Collection by Marriott hotel in 2012. The hotel features 12,000 square feet of meeting space, a grand lobby with a 65-foot barrel-vaulted ceiling, Prime 108 restaurant, fitness center, business center and valet parking. Pebblebrook plans to invest $5 million to $7 million to upgrade the hotel’s guestrooms and public areas.
MINOOKA, ILL. — An 83-room Hampton Inn & Suites is set to open in Minooka, located approximately 12 miles southwest of Joliet. Blair Road Hotel Associates LLC is developing the $12 million project, which is a collaboration between Kinseth Hospitality, American Construction Services, Doug Bean Development and Marquette Properties Inc. The Hampton Inn & Suites, located at 621 Bob Blair Road, is the first hotel in Minooka and is expected to be open in fall 2015.
BETHESDA, MD. — LaSalle Hotel Properties has sold 7.6 million shares of common stock to Barclays, Deutsche Bank Securities and Morgan Stanley for $40.30 per share. LaSalle will use the net proceeds from this underwritten public offering to fund three hotel acquisitions out West. Though the properties were not named, LaSalle noted the hotels were located in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Portland, Ore. They will be purchased for a total of about $500 million. The company will also use some of the proceeds to reduce the amount of its outstanding $750-million senior unsecured credit facility, as well as for general corporate purposes. Barclays, Deutsche Bank Securities and Morgan Stanley are acting as the offering’s underwriters. LaSalle has also granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to 1.14 million additional shares. Bethesda, Md.-based LaSalle Hotel Properties is a multi-operator REIT that owns 44 hotels. The portfolio contains a total of 11,100 guest rooms in upscale, full-service hotels throughout 13 markets in nine states and the District of Columbia. LaSalle specializes in the ownership, redevelopment and repositioning of upscale, full-service hotels in urban, resort and convention markets.
MIAMI — Miami-based Mayan Properties, 3H Group Hotels and Arti Hersi Inc. have teamed up to break ground on the new Hampton Inn & Suites in Miami’s Biscayne Boulevard corridor. The 151-room hotel will be located at the intersection of Biscayne Boulevard and Northwest 35th Street. The hotel will feature 4,400 square feet of street-level retail space and an eight-story parking garage. 3H Group Hotels will manage the hotel upon completion, which is slated for first quarter 2016. The design team includes architect Israel Bigelman, exterior architect Kobi Karp and interior designer Monioni Design. Michael Comras of Comras Co. will handle leasing the retail space.
SAN ANTONIO — HREC Investment Advisors has arranged the sale of a 194-room Holiday Inn San Antonio NW SeaWorld located in San Antonio. Pacifica Cos., a San Diego-based investment firm, was the buyer. Mike Armstrong and Hank Wolpert of HREC represented the seller, a private equity fund, in the transaction. The hotel opened in 2009 as the first LEED-certified hotel in Texas. It is the preferred hotel of the 250-acre SeaWorld San Antonio, the world’s largest marine life theme park.
SAVANNAH, GA. — Newmark Grubb Knight Frank Hotels (NGKF Hotels) has brokered the sale of the 101-room Country Inn & Suites located at 320 Montgomery St. in Savannah’s Historic District. The sales price was undisclosed. The buyer, an affiliate of InSite Group, plans to renovate and rebrand the hotel into a boutique property known as B Historic Savannah. The hotel will be affiliated with B Hotels & Resorts. The property will be open during renovations and will add a spa suite with customizable treatments, upscale bedding and linens and a small-plate and tapas lounge/bar in the lobby. The hotel currently features a fitness center, heated indoor swimming pool and 1,000 square feet of meeting space. NGKF Hotels represented the seller, Tara of Savannah LLC, in the privately marketed transaction.