San Diego Business Journal
08/18/15

San Diego County Hotel Property Deals Declined in First Half
By Lou Hirsh

http://sdbj.com/news/2015/aug/18/san-diego-county-hotel-property-deals-declined-fir/
The volume of San Diego County’s hotel property sales transactions declined 16 percent from a year ago in the first half of 2015, while the dollar volume of those deals slipped 1 percent, according to a newly released mid-year report by brokerage and research firm Atlas Hospitality Group.

San Diego County saw a total of 16 hotels change hands in the first half, in deals totaling $696.5 million. The region’s largest hotel sold was the 419-room Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine, purchased for $118 million by affiliates of Chicago-headquartered Walton Street Capital LLC and San Francisco-based JMA Ventures LLC.

The biggest local transaction of the first half was the $259 million deal in which Blum Capital and the parent of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts purchased a majority stake in the 249-room Grand Del Mar in Carmel Valley, from Douglas Manchester. That property is now known as Fairmont Grand Del Mar.

Atlas officials said California as a whole saw a record $4.4 billion in hotel transactions, including 13 properties that went for more than $100 million. That occurred even as the number of hotels sold statewide declined 7 percent from the same period of 2014, to 174 this year.