CHICAGO — Cresset Partners and Diversified Real Estate Capital have formed a partnership of their real estate groups, expanding Cresset’s real estate investment platform. The partnership formalizes and builds upon the existing relationship between the two companies, which have sourced, structured, capitalized and executed $1.6 billion in real estate projects since 2019. The combined entity, which is named Cresset Real Estate Partners, will target institutional-quality investment opportunities in a variety of asset types, including multifamily, office, industrial and hospitality.
By Steve Van, president & CEO, Prism Hotels & Resorts While 2020 was a trying year for companies in every industry, the hospitality sector has been really taking it on the chin. Restaurateurs and airline executives might disagree, but hoteliers have arguably had it worse than any other industry. The financial impact on the hotel business from COVID-19 is 10 times worse than the hit from the late 2000s recession — and that’s a very big deal. With the rate of business travel falling off a cliff and leisure travel down more than ever around the world, 2020 was a year that many hospitality executives would like to forget. But that doesn’t mean the sky is falling — or that brighter times aren’t in store. But what do those timelines look like? How should hotel professionals be managing the current crisis, and what are the real estate implications for investors? Let’s take a clear-eyed look at the good, the bad and the ugly and try and answer those questions by examining key trends and thinking about what’s likely to come next for hotel developers, operators and investors. Southern Sunshine One important caveat to the story of catastrophic hotel business drop-offs …
HEALDSBURG, CALIF. — Ohana Real Estate Investors has sold the Montage Healdsburg, a 130-room luxury hotel located within California’s Sonoma County wine country. Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. (NYSE: SHO) bought the resort for $265 million, more than $2 million per key. Montage Healdsburg is a newly built, 258-acre resort situated within walking distance of downtown Healdsburg. The property offers bungalow-style guest rooms and suites alongside shared amenities including a full-service spa; multiple swimming pools; an archery range; pickleball courts; bocce ball; dining options including a multi-level main restaurant and an outdoor bar and grill overlooking the resort’s vineyards; and meeting and event space. The property also offers a number of 4,500-square-foot, move-in-ready residences titled Harvest Homes, which feature four bedrooms with bed-to-bath parity. Ohana will retain ownership of the residential parcels within the property, and has begun constructing homes and selling custom homesites affiliated with the resort. “This sale reflects the strong interest from investors in best-in-class, leisure-oriented resorts as the hotel industry begins to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,” says James Cole, head of asset management at Ohana. Dentons was legal advisor to Ohana on the transaction. This disposition marks Ohana’s second sale of a hotel …
SOUTHLAKE, TEXAS — RREAF Holdings has completed construction of the 240-room Delta Hotel Dallas Southlake. Designed by Merriman Anderson Architects, the six-story property features 10,000 square feet of meeting and event space, a restaurant and bar, outdoor pool and patio and a coffee shop. Hill & Wilkinson served as the general contractor. Construction began in July 2019.
ATLANTA — A joint venture between Skanska and SG Contracting Inc. has been selected to build a $308.3 million Hilton (NYSE: HLT) hotel adjacent to the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) in downtown Atlanta. The 1.2 million-square-foot hotel will be the first newly constructed project under Hilton’s upscale Signia banner, and will act as a headquarters hotel for the GWCC. The property will overlook the Mercedes-Benz Stadium and is located near the Omni Atlanta Hotel, CNN Center, State Farm Arena and the Georgia Aquarium. The 40-story hotel is set to feature 975 guest rooms alongside amenities including 75,000 square feet of world-class meeting and event space; a connected walkway to the GWCC; spa; fitness center; 6,670-square-foot pool deck; an outdoor event lawn; a market; two chef-driven restaurants; and three bars. “The Signia by Hilton will further elevate Atlanta’s international presence and position as a major host of civic, cultural and commercial events,” says Scott Cannon, executive vice president and general manager for Skanska’s Georgia and South Carolina operations. Skanska and SG Contracting will provide pre-construction and construction management services for the hotel, which Gensler designed to achieve LEED Gold certification. The development, which Cannon says will generate approximately 600 construction jobs, is …
GRAPEVINE, TEXAS — Dallas-based hospitality owner-operator NewcrestImage has opened a 152-room Hilton Garden Inn hotel that is located about two miles from DFW International Airport in Grapevine. The property joins a 181-room Courtyard by Marriott and a 120-room TownSuites by Marriott as the third hotel within the 52-acre SilverLake Crossings mixed-use development. The Hilton Garden Inn offers amenities such as a 24-hour business center, fitness center, a grab-and-go mart and multiple dining options.
SUNRISE, FLA. — Norwich Partners has opened the eight-story, 174-room AC Hotel Fort Lauderdale Sawgrass Mills/Sunrise in Sunrise. The hotel is located on the grounds of Sawgrass Mills, an outlet and value-oriented shopping mall. Global design firm Stantec served as the project’s architect and structural mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer of record, working alongside interior design firm Group One Partners. The AC Hotel Fort Lauderdale Sawgrass Mills/Sunrise is located at 1870 Sawgrass Mills Circle. The hotel property is 36 miles from Miami Beach and 17 miles from Fort Lauderdale. The hotel lobby includes an AC Lounge featuring a communal space with a bar serving local beers and cocktails, as well as an outside terrace. The hotel’s amenities also include a rooftop deck with bar, lounge, cascading water fountain and 24-hour fitness center. Other hotel amenities include an art gallery featuring the works of local artists, a digital library, the AC Kitchen restaurant and 1,675 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space.
MIAMI BEACH, FLA. — The Goodtime Hotel, the first collaborative lifestyle hotel brand from David Grutman of Groot Hospitality and Pharrell Williams, has opened on South Beach’s Washington Avenue and 6th Street in Miami Beach. Grutman and Williams worked alongside the real estate developers Michael Fascitelli and Eric Birnbaum of Imperial Cos. to build the hotel. Morris Adjmi was the architect, Ken Fulk was the interior designer and Raymond Jungles was the landscape architect. The Goodtime Hotel has 266 rooms that range from individual queen bed accommodations to a handful of suites. Many rooms hold direct views east to the Atlantic Ocean or west to Biscayne Bay. Each of Goodtime’s guest rooms feature custom bedding, blackout drapes, benches, bath amenities and a pink rotary dial phone. The hotel also has dining options such as Grutman’s Strawberry Moon, a restaurant and 30,000-square-foot pool club. Also, Goodtime has 45,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, a gym and library. The hotel opens for guest stays starting this month.
CHICAGO — Summit Design + Build LLC has completed construction of a 148-room SpringHill Suites hotel in Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood. Summit constructed the four-story, 80,000-square-foot property on top of an existing two-story parking garage and retail center. The project includes a first-floor lobby, reception, gym, breakfast room and meeting room. SpringHill Suites is under the Marriott International umbrella. The project team included T2 Mechanical and Vari Architects.
CENTENNIAL, COLO. — Colorado-based Brue Baukol Capital Partners has broken ground on The District, a 36-acre mixed-use community adjacent to the Dry Creek rail station in Centennial. The walkable community will feature more than 2.5 million square feet of office space, a 200-key hotel, 1,800 residential units and over 30,000 square feet of retail space. Previously named the Jones District before rebranding to The District, the development will offer space for a range of flexible office spaces from small-scale co-working to multiple-building corporate headquarters. The project team includes Tryba Architects, Design Workshop, Martin/Martin Consulting Engineers and JHL Constructors. Completion for infrastructure work is slated for May 2021, with vertical construction on several planned projects scheduled to begin during the second half of 2021.