BETHESDA, MD. — RLJ Lodging Trust (NYSE: RLJ) has closed on the sale of a portfolio of 11 hotels in Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada and Texas for approximately $85 million. The Bethesda-based trust sold the assets to Sage Hospitality, according to media reports.
The estimated combined 2013 revenue per available room (RevPAR) for the portfolio was approximately $68. The sale of the portfolio will improve the company’s RevPAR and geographic profile, according to RLJ Lodging Trust.
“This transaction enabled us to make significant progress on our capital recycling program,” says Thomas Baltimore Jr., president and CEO. “The sale of these assets are immediately accretive to our portfolio’s RevPAR and the net proceeds will be reinvested into higher-yielding hotels, such as our recently announced Hyatt deal. We are very pleased by the demand we saw while marketing these assets and we remain committed to expanding our capital recycling program.”
The hotels include:
· the 125-room Hyatt House Colorado Springs in Colorado Springs, Colo.
· the 90-room Courtyard Denver Southwest Lakewood in Lakewood, Colo.
· the 102-room Residence Inn Denver Southwest Lakewood in Lakewood, Colo.
· the 126-room SpringHill Suites Gainesville in Gainesville, Fla.
· the 95-room Residence Inn Indianapolis Airport in Indianapolis
· the 86-room Fairfield Inn & Suites Indianapolis Airport in Indianapolis
· the 84-room Courtyard Grand Rapids Airport in Kentwood, Mich.
· the 106-room Hampton Inn & Suites Las Vegas/Summerlin in Las Vegas
· the 198-room Courtyard Austin University Area in Austin, Texas
· the 63-room Fairfield Inn & Suites Austin University Area in Austin, Texas
· the 130-room Hyatt House Dallas Richardson in Richardson, Texas
In aggregate, the portfolio’s hotel EBITDA represented less than 3 percent of the company’s estimated 2013 pro forma hotel EBITDA. The 11 hotels were some of the company’s smallest hotel EBITDA contributors and were selected based on operating performance and market location, according to RLJ Lodging.
RLJ Lodging Trust is a self-advised, publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on acquiring premium-branded, focused-service and compact full-service hotels (which typically refers to hotels with less than 300 guestrooms and less than 12,000 square feet of meeting space).
RLJ’s stock price closed at $25.91 per share on Friday, Feb. 21, up from $20.73 per share at this time last year.
— John Nelson