Hospitality

Hilton KCI Exterior

KANSAS CITY, MO. — Laurus Corp. has completed a $10 million renovation on the Hilton Kansas City Airport Hotel. The property is located at 8801 NW 112th St. All 347 guest rooms and guest bathrooms saw renovations including new carpeting, stonework and modern artwork. All three ballrooms include 21,000 square feet of total meeting space and the largest meeting room accommodates up to 700 people in a theater-style setting. The newly renovated indoor/outdoor pool and lounge is designed to create an oasis for guests to relax and unwind. In addition, the restaurant and bar was revamped and now operates as Asado Grill. Surrounded by more than 6 million square feet of office space, including several Fortune 500 companies, the hotel offers proximity to shopping, dining and other entertainment venues.

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hotel

WAXAHACHIE, TEXAS — Atlanta-based Hotel Equities and owners Thomas and Michael Chen of Scenic Capital Advisors have broken ground on a new Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott hotel in Waxahachie. The hotel will be located at 2020 Civic Center Lane at the intersection of I-35 E and Highway 287, 30 minutes south of Dallas. Expected to open in early summer 2016, the hotel will sit beside the Waxahachie Civic Center, and across from the newly completed Baylor Scott & White Hospital.

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Aloft_lobby

One of the biggest stories in the hotel industry today is the growth of the boutique segment. Independent groups such as Ace Hotels, 21C, Grupo Habita and citizenM registered record growth in the last few years. Meanwhile, all the major brands have incorporated a boutique component. That trend was reinforced last December when IHG purchased Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants. For its part, Hyatt launched Andaz several years ago, and Marriott has rolled out the Autograph Collection, Moxy, EDITION and AC Hotels in the past few years. Even Best Western has unveiled its new urban boutique concept — Vib. I get the following question a lot: “Why should we invest in boutique hotels?” The conventional wisdom among investment funds tasked with finding hotel assets is to look for branded assets in the top five markets that are deemed less risky by pundits. However, some hotel investors don’t realize the substantial RevPAR (revenue per available room) premiums you can get with boutique properties over standard branded hotels. Among boutique properties, we’re seeing RevPAR premiums of 10 to 20 percent — sometimes 50 percent — over traditional hotels (see chart). Boutique hotels have less rigorous brand standards, if any at all, and offer …

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Holiday Inn Savannah Historic District

SAVANNAH, GA. — Meridian Capital Group has arranged an $18.2 million acquisition loan for Holiday Inn Savannah Historic District in Savannah. The five-story, 127-room hotel is located at 15 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Savannah’s Historic District. The hotel opened in 2007 as a Four Points by Sheraton and was renovated and rebranded in 2014. Noam Kaminetzky of Meridian’s Boca Raton, Fla., office arranged the two-year, interest-only loan through a balance sheet lender with an exit to CMBS execution. The floating-rate loan features a one-year extension option. The unnamed borrower is a large international hotel operator, according to Meridian Capital Group.

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The-Pearl-at-the-Peninsula

FLOWER MOUND, TEXAS — New Era Hotels & Resorts and Sunset Legacy LP plan to develop a 12-story, 220-room luxury hotel and conference center overlooking Lake Grapevine in Flower Mound. The development, which will be called The Pearl on the Peninsula Hotel & Conference Center, will overlook the Grapevine Lake from 40-foot bluffs. It will be the centerpiece of the southern 25-acre peninsula, which is part of the 150-acre mixed-use development, Lakeside DFW. The Tarwater and Stewart families, who have collectively owned the property since the 1890s, are driving the development of The Pearl on The Peninsula Hotel & Conference Center. The Flower Mound Town Council approved a measure that will assist New Era Hotels & Resorts in developing the hotel and conference center. The 12-story hotel will include a 32,000-square-foot conference center. The developer plans to seek LEED certification. Tarwater and New Era Hotels & Resorts are leading the development effort and DePalma Hotels & Resorts will manage the property. The project team includes Merriman Associates/Architects, TBG (landscape design), Duncan, Miller, Ullmann Design (interior design), Gateway Planning (master planning) and Kimley-Horn (engineering). Balfour Beatty is acting as design builder.

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LAFAYETTE, LA. — Hilton Worldwide has opened DoubleTree by Hilton Lafayette, a 15-story, 327-room hotel located at 1521 W. Pinhook Road near downtown Lafayette and three miles from Lafayette Regional Airport. The hotel is located along the banks of the Vermillion River and features a newly updated outdoor pool and sundeck, 24-hour fitness center, 24-hour business center, 22,000 square feet of meeting space and complimentary Wi-Fi. The hotel also features the SoLA Restaurant and Lobby Bar and 337, a bar located on the ground floor of the hotel. The property was formerly a Hilton hotel and has since undergone a $12 million renovation. Garrison Wright Prop Co JV LLC owns the hotel and Hospitality Management Advisors manages the property.

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ATLANTA — Hodges Ward Elliott has brokered the sale of the dual-branded Hilton Garden Inn/Homewood Suites Atlanta Midtown. The 12-story, 228-room property is located in Atlanta’s Midtown district near I-75/85. The hotel features 136 Hilton Garden Inn rooms, 92 Homewood Suites units, a 24-hour fitness center, two business centers, two breakfast areas, two lobbies and reception desks, the Garden Grill & Bar restaurant and 3,027 square feet of meeting space. Hodges Ward Elliott represented the seller, North Point Hospitality Group Inc., in the transaction. The buyer was Carey Watermark Investors Inc. Crescent Hotels & Resorts will manage the hotel.

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LOS ANGELES — Sunrider International has acquired the 297-room SLS Beverly Hills for about $200 million. The hotel is located at 465 S. La Cienega Blvd. The hotel was sold by Sam Nazarian’s SBE, a locally based hospitality company that develops, manages, and operates hotels, restaurants and nightlife venues. SLS Beverly Hills opened in November 2008 as part of the Luxury Collection Hotels & Resorts brand. It was designed by Philippe Starck, and offers a variety of culinary experiences crafted by James Beard award-winning chef Jose Andres. The property has been an AAA Four Diamond Award recipient since 2009. It is managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. SBE currently has 11 new projects in various stages of development, construction and negotiation, including the recent announcement of five new hotels in Mexico. The new projects include a total of 1,893 hotel rooms and 2,230 residences throughout the world. SBE will remain onboard as the flagship property’s brand operator. The hotel’s ownership group included SBE, the Nazarian family and subsidiaries of SLS Hotels. Sunrider International is a family owned health and beauty company.

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Embassy Suites Nashville

NASHVILLE, TENN. — Moody National REIT I Inc. has entered into a purchase contract to acquire the Embassy Suites Nashville for $66.3 million. The 208-room hotel opened on a 1.25-acre lot in 2001 in Nashville’s West End-Midtown district near Vanderbilt University. The hotel features an indoor swimming pool, fitness center, business center and meeting space. Moody National REIT I owns select-service hotels in major markets across the United States. The REIT is sponsored by Moody REIT Sponsor LLC, an affiliate of the Moody National Cos.

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ORLANDO, FLA. — Marcus & Millichap has brokered the $11.2 million sale of the WOW Resort, a 334-room hospitality property in Orlando’s International Drive corridor. The hotel features a seasonally heated outdoor pool, picnic area and a gym/fitness center. Located at 6101 Sand Lake Road, the hotel is located one mile from the Wet ‘n Wild Orlando water park, three miles from the Universal Studios Florida theme park and 10 miles from the Walt Disney World Resort. Ahmed Kabani and J. Dominic Vito of Marcus & Millichap represented the seller, an investment fund based in Boston. Kabani and Vito also procured the buyer, a private investor from the Arabian Peninsula that purchased the hotel in cash.

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