NASHVILLE — Xenia Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: XHR), an Orlando-based hospitality REIT, has agreed to acquire the 346-room W Nashville hotel for $328.7 million. The sales price equates to roughly $950,000 per room.
The seller and developer of the 14-story hotel, which opened in October 2021 in the city’s Gulch neighborhood and is part of the Marriott family of brands, was not disclosed. The deal is scheduled to close by the end of the first quarter.
The W Nashville features six food and beverage options, including two concepts by Chef Andrew Carmellini, as well as rooftop and pool bars. The property also offers 18,000 square feet of indoor meeting and event space and 26,000 square feet of outdoor amenity space, including a 10,000-square-foot pool deck and terraces contiguous with meeting, food and beverage and event spaces.
The hotel’s offering of guestrooms includes 60 suites, representing about 17 percent of the total room count.
“We are thrilled to have reached an agreement to acquire an outstanding, newly constructed luxury lifestyle hotel located in the desirable Gulch neighborhood in the heart of Nashville,” says Marcel Verbaas, Xenia’s chairman and CEO. “The W Nashville is extremely well-designed and perfectly situated to attract year-round leisure, corporate and group demand.”
Verbaas adds that Xenia believes that the Nashville tourism and hospitality market is in the early stages of a multi-year recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and that he expects the property to drive earnings growth as a marquee asset in a top lodging market.
According to Xenia’s data, Nashville has been one of the strongest performing lodging markets over the past two decades, with a revenue per available room (RevPAR) of 5.4 percent between 1987 and 2019 and 8.7 percent between 2009 and 2019.
The stock price of Xenia Hotels & Resorts opened at $18.30 per share on Wednesday, March 2, down slightly from $18.79 per share a year ago.
— Taylor Williams