WEHOville.com
02/14/18

Stats Show WeHo Is a Leader in L.A. County’s Hotel Boom

http://www.wehoville.com/2018/02/14/stats-show-weho-leader-l-countys-hotel-boom/

There is a hotel boom going on, with West Hollywood a leader in some respects.

New hotel development in California in 2017 exceeded the peak set in 2008, according to a report by Atlas Hospitality Group, a hotel sales and investment organization. Atlas reports that 10,793 rooms opened in 66 hotels across the state. The previous record was 10,286 rooms in 2008.

Hotel sales in Los Angeles County also hit a new record last year. The $1.7 billion in hotel sales last year is an increase of $344 million over sales in 2016. Atlas reports that the median hotel room purchase price in Los Angeles grew to $127,211, the highest it has been since 2008.

That record was achieved in part by the sale of two hotels in West Hollywood, which Atlas reports were the largest acquisitions in L.A. last year

Starwood’s purchase of the Jeremy on Sunset Boulevard in June fo $280 million from the C.I.M. Group was the largest sale in L.A. County. The biggest buy in terms of price per room was Jeff Klein’s decision last year to buy out the majority owner of the 81-room Sunset Tower Hotel. Klein paid or $1.13 million per room for a total of $90 million.

The Real Deal, a commercial real estate news site, reports that that this year, “the hotel industry is expected to break all previous records for new rooms, including the one set last year when 4,300 opened. To give some perspective, the more than 5,000 rooms now under construction in L.A. County account for 25 percent of all rooms in the works throughout California.”

West Hollywood, a geographically small city of only 1.89 square miles, is home to 20 hotels with more on the way. The latest to open is the La Peer on La Peer Drive just north of Melrose. Under construction is the 190-room Edition on Sunset Boulevard and in the planning process is the 240-room Robertson Lane. Several other projects, including ones on Holloway Drive and La Brea Avenue, have been proposed by developers.

Steve Witkoff, the developer of The Edition, has called out West Hollywood as an ideal hotel market. The Edition “is the best located hotel within West Hollywood, a high barrier to entry market and one of the highest RevPAR submarkets in the country,” said. (RevPAR is hotel industry speak for revenue per available room.)