ATLANTA — Bethesda, Md.-based Pebblebrook Hotel Trust has acquired the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta hotel for $105 million. The five-diamond, luxury hotel is located within Atlanta's Buckhead submarket. It totals 24 stories and contains 422 rooms, including 21 suites and 93 rooms reserved for Club InterContinental members. The hotel features 31,000 square feet of meeting space — more than any other hotel in the submarket — including a 12,000-square-foot ballroom. The indoor meeting space is complemented by a 24,000-square-foot outdoor garden and meeting area. Amenities include a 5,000-square-foot fitness center and spa, a business center, and an outdoor pool with poolside bar service. Finally, the hotel contains Au Pied de Cochon, a French-style brasserie, as well as XO Bar, a cognac bar.
“We are extremely pleased to acquire one of Buckhead's leading hotels in one of the nation's fastest growing metropolitan areas,” said Jon Bortz, the head of Pebblebrook, in a statement. “We view the InterContinental Buckhead as a strategic opportunity to invest in a high-quality hotel with a premier brand and operating company in one of the most active and affluent locations in the United States.”
The InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta was developed in 2004 by locally based InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), which was the seller in the deal and will stay on to manage the hotel. In 2009, the hotel averaged approximately 68 percent occupancy, with an average daily rate of approximately $156.
“We built the hotel using our own capital in 2004 to create a showcase for the brand, in order to drive growth across the Americas,” said Richard Solomons, CFO and head of commercial development for IHG, in a statement. “Since then, we have signed 21 InterContinental hotels in the region. We are now able to recycle the capital we have invested in the building whilst maintaining a long-term management contract with a great partner.”
The deal marks the third acquisition by Pebblebrook since it completed its initial public offering last December. Last month, the company acquired the 416-room Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco for $90 million and the Doubletree Bethesda Hotel & Executive Meeting Center in Bethesda for $67.1 million.
— Coleman Wood