MUNDELEIN, ILL. — HREC Investment Advisors has arranged the sale of a 92-room Comfort Inn & Suites in Mundelein, a suburb of Chicago. Oak Brook, Ill.-based Mundelein Realty LLC, which owns several properties in the Chicago area, purchased the property located at 517 Illinois 83 for an undisclosed price. Scott Kaniewski and Tom Sommer of HREC Investment Advisors' Chicago office and Scott Stephens, of the firm’s Tampa office represented the seller, Buffalo Grove, Ill.-based American Enterprise Bank, in the transaction. There are several demand generators near the hotel, such as Medline Industries, Motorola Mobility, and Six Flags Great America.
Hospitality
MILWAUKEE — Marcus Hotels & Resorts, a division of The Marcus Corp., has completed renovations on the 176-room Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee. The renovations at the AAA-Four Diamond historic hotel are part of a multi-year, multi-million-dollar reinvestment in the property, which includes the addition of new club floors, a high-tech executive boardroom and a club lounge. Each bathroom features marble vanity tops and flooring, a separate commode stall for privacy and a tiled shower. The Pfister Hotel announced the completion of its VIP Club Lounge in April 2013. The lounge is located on the top floor of the hotel, offering views of the city and Lake Michigan. The new space includes a fireplace, bookshelves, workstations for individuals and small groups, Wi-Fi access, printers and televisions. The club lounge also offers guests breakfast each morning, snacks and beverages throughout the day and hors d’oeuvres and cocktails during the evening. The lounge is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Pfister’s new executive boardroom, Twenty 3, was also introduced last year. The upscale, high-tech boardroom incorporates unmatched presentation technology, multiple 4K LED monitors, including 3D, gesture recognition, iPad multi-media controls, surround sound and an iMac lab. The Pfister Hotel was …
SAN ANTONIO — Laurus Corp. has acquired the Marriott San Antonio Northwest Hotel. The Marriott is located at 3233 Northwest Loop 410 in the Northwest business corridor, just north of the interchange of Interstates 10 and 410. The hotel is the only full-service Marriott-branded hotel outside the San Antonio central business district and features 296 guestrooms, two food and beverage outlets, and approximately 8,500 square feet of meeting and banquet facilities, in addition to various amenities such as an outdoor pool, gift shop, guest laundry and business and fitness centers. Laurus Corp. will be investing approximately $16 million to upgrade the entire property to the new Marriott standards.
AUSTIN, TEXAS — InterContinental Hotels Group will manage a dual-branded Hotel Indigo and Holiday Inn Express hotel in downtown Austin. JCI Cos. is developing the hotel, which will feature 134 Hotel Indigo rooms and 171 Holiday Inn Express rooms. The dual-branded model allows for operating efficiencies, where guests typically share the same building structure or services, such as fitness centers, pools and food and beverage facilities. Some back-of-the-house operations may also be shared or separate. The hotel is expected to open by the end of 2016.
MILWAUKEE — The Ehmer Group has brokered the $7 million sale of the Hilton Milwaukee River Hotel in Milwaukee. A Delaware-based investment group consisting of several Canadian-based and domestic hotel operators purchased the 164-room full-service Hilton Hotel. The buyer plans to invest $8 million for renovations and to convert the hotel into a Holiday Inn. The Hilton license expires this month and the hotel will be operated independently as the Milwaukee River Inn until the Holiday Inn PIP and conversion are complete. Greenbelt, Maryland-based Chesapeake Hospitality Management will manage the Holiday Inn Milwaukee River. Richard Ehmer of The Ehmer Group brokered the transaction.
SEATTLE — Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers has acquired the 319-room Motiff Seattle hotel for a reported $130.7 million. The hotel is located at 1415 5th Ave., between Pike and Union streets in Downtown Seattle. It was formerly known as The Red Lion. The property went through a $20-million, multi-phase renovation in 2011 that added 22 guest rooms and increased meeting space by 50 percent. It was only recently rebranded as Motiff Seattle, making it the largest independent hotel in the Downtown area. The seller was a joint venture between Lowe Enterprises Investors (LEI), the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America and a subsidiary of Allstate Insurance Company. LEI affiliate Destination Hotels & Resorts will continue to manage the property. The joint venture targets well-located, full-service hotels that maintain three-star quality and above that can be repositioned to capitalize on the market’s recovery.
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — CBRE Hotels has brokered the sale of the 166-room Crowne Plaza in North Charleston. Arpit Shah of CBRE Hotels’ Charlotte office represented the seller, Inland American Lodging Management LLC, in the transaction. This is the 10th hotel in the Carolinas that CBRE Hotels has brokered on behalf of Inland since 2010. Atlanta-based Peachtree Hotel Group purchased the asset for an undisclosed amount.
ATLANTA — Starwood Hotels & Resorts and DeBartolo Development have opened Aloft Downtown Atlanta, a 10-story, 254-room hotel in downtown Atlanta immediately adjacent to the Atlanta Merchandise Mart. Banyan Investment Group manages the hotel, which includes a bar, lounge, swimming pool, 24-hour fitness center and 2,500 square feet of meeting space. The new hotel is Starwood’s largest Aloft hotel in the Southeast.
COUNTRYSIDE, ILL. — HREC Investment Advisors has arranged the sale of the 174-room Holiday Inn Chicago Southwest Countryside Conference Center in Countryside, approximately 17 miles southwest of Chicago. Schaumburg, Ill.-based Pearlshire Capital Group, which specializes in distressed investments, purchased the property for an undisclosed price. The hotel is situated near the intersection of I-294 and I-55 and is approximately 10 miles from Midway International Airport. Pearlshire Capital Group will invest $8 million in capital improvements to reposition the property. Scott Kaniewski and Scott Stephens of HREC Investment Advisors represented the seller in the transaction.
MAHWAH, N.J. — HREC Investment Advisors has brokered the sale of a Sheraton in Mahwah. Located in the Crossroads Corporate Center, the 225-room hotel is on the border of New York and New Jersey. Ketan Patel, Geoff Davis and Scott Stephens of HREC represented the seller in the transaction.