Atlas in the news

Hotel shows upswing in guests after $60 million revamp By GEORGE AVALOS | gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group PUBLISHED: September 28, 2023 at 5:30 a.m. | UPDATED: September 28, 2023 at 1:59 p.m. SAN JOSE — A big hotel in San Jose has received financial boosts from its lender this year, hopeful indicators that the lodging facility has begun to recover from coronavirus-linked economic woes. The Signia by Hilton San Jose hotel in downtown San Jose during 2023 has landed two increases in the principal amount of its real estate loan, documents on file at the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office show. The financing boosts that the lender, an affiliate of Brightspire Capital, provided to the Signia by Hilton offer strong signals that the financier is confident in the prospects for the hotel at 170 South Market Street, in the view of Sam Hirbod, principal owner of the hotel property. “Our lender recognized the great amount of equity that we have and continue to build in the Signia,” Hirbod said in an interview with this news organization. “This is why they increased the loan sizes a couple of times.” The upswing in the loan amount for the hotel offers a hopeful counterpoint to the financial struggles…

By Alicia Hoisington Sep 19, 2023 02:07pm San Francisco offers a diverse set of demand generators, such as popular tourist attractions like the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf and more. But the market has been slow to recover to pre-pandemic performance levels. That, paired with other financial factors, makes the outlook for the city’s hotel market a bit of a mixed bag. On the investment and development side for San Francisco’s hotel industry, like many markets across the United States, the top story is the banking industry’s recent upheaval. Where interest rate hikes used to be the biggest worry for investors, now the added trouble of banks pulling away from commercial real estate assets—such as hotels and office buildings—is a major concern. But the good news for hoteliers in San Francisco? Because San Francisco is a market with high barriers to entry, owners have not been as motivated to sell their assets. “It’s why we’re not seeing a lot of product in San Francisco trading. People are still bullish on the city in the long term,” said Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group. “The bottom line is [that] if you’re a hotel owner and don’t have a loan coming due…

By Alicia HoisingtonSep 19, 2023 02:07pm San Francisco offers a diverse set of demand generators, such as popular tourist attractions like the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf and more. But the market has been slow to recover to pre-pandemic performance levels. That, paired with other financial factors, makes the outlook for the city’s hotel market a bit of a mixed bag. On the investment and development side for San Francisco’s hotel industry, like many markets across the United States, the top story is the banking industry’s recent upheaval. Where interest rate hikes used to be the biggest worry for investors, now the added trouble of banks pulling away from commercial real estate assets—such as hotels and office buildings—is a major concern. But the good news for hoteliers in San Francisco? Because San Francisco is a market with high barriers to entry, owners have not been as motivated to sell their assets. “It’s why we’re not seeing a lot of product in San Francisco trading. People are still bullish on the city in the long term,” said Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group. “The bottom line is [that] if you’re a hotel owner and don’t have a loan coming due in…

Schrader Boulevard site has entitlements 203-key hotel SEP 13, 2023, 4:34 PM By Isabella Farr Relevant Group is looking for a joint venture partner in a fully entitled hotel site in Hollywood, The Real Deal has learned.  Relevant has hired Cushman & Wakefield to market the Schrader hotel project to potential investors, according to marketing materials for the site and a LoopNet listing. Relevant, run by Grant King, is also willing to sell the property.  The site, located at 1600 Schrader Boulevard, is fully entitled for 203 hotel rooms, marketing materials show. King declined to comment.  “There’s a ton of flexibility,” Cushman & Wakefield broker Mike Condon said, adding Relevant was open to different deal structures. “Every option is on the table right now.” The property sits on the same block as the Tommie and Thompson hotels — two properties Relevant lost to foreclosure earlier this year, after defaulting on mezzanine debt tied to the developments.  Relevant bought the Schrader site for $20 million in 2019, records show, a year after the previous owner, Koar Institutional Advisors, had scored city planning approval for a hotel project.  The limited liability company that owns the hotel site, Schrader Venture, is also linked to Missouri-based CRA…

Home Away From Home BY GINA HALL | SEPTEMBER 11, 2023 Increased construction costs and high interest rates are taking a toll on hotel construction in Los Angeles and the rest of the state.  Los Angeles County still leads California in building new lodging, with 21 hotels and 2,329 rooms under construction the first half of the year, according to a mid-year report from Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality Group.  However, the number of rooms under construction in the county is down by 42% compared to last year at the same time. The number of hotels under construction is down 28% compared to the same time last year, according to the Atlas Hospitality report.  “Smaller projects with fewer rooms are what are in the pipeline to open within the next year,” said Robert Feist, vice president of Atlas Hospitality. “It’s clearly market driven as far as financing, interest rates and cost to build.” Feist noted that pre-pandemic, the number of projects and rooms under construction were almost double the current rate during the stronger market in 2018 and into 2019, when there was more available financing and reasonable construction costs. Then Covid-19 slowed or stopped most hotel construction in 2020.  “All of those projects…

Jennifer Huffman | Sep 6, 2023 Updated 8 hrs ago The 90-room Cambria Hotel Napa Valley, which opened in 2021 after three years of construction, has been officially lost to foreclosure. The Cambria’s developer, Stratus Development of Irvine, no longer owns the Soscol Avenue property. That foreclosure also includes a Cambria hotel in Rohnert Park, in Sonoma County. Both Cambria hotels now belong to the lenders who financed the project. Listed as MRC Ca Lender V, the limited-liability corporation is an affiliate of Madison Realty Capital. A total of $80 million was owed to lenders. However, according to the company that hosted the foreclosure sale on Aug. 25, the properties were “sold” back to the lenders for a total of $59 million. However, the financial foreclosure doesn’t mean Cambria’s doors are closed to Napa Valley and wine country overnight guests. Cambria Hotel area general manager Michael Palmer, formerly the GM of the Meritage Resort and Spa in south Napa, said that the Cambria Hotel Napa Valley is open for business “and continues to operate as usual with no interruption to guest service.” Guests may confirm their reservations via their original booking method, he noted. However, “the hotel team looks forward to hosting incoming guests…

The 132-room Cambria Sonoma Wine Country hotel in Rohnert Park opened in May 2020. An entity managed by Stratus Development Partners owed over $80 million on this and a Cambria hotel in Napa when the loan for both went into foreclosure in early July 2023. (Courtesy: Cambria Sonoma Wine Country) JEFF QUACKENBUSH – THE NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL August 31, 2023, 4:43PM – Updated 31 minutes ago Two Wine Country hotels with 222 rooms altogether are now under the ownership of the lender after there were no takers in recent foreclosure auctions to cover over $80 million in outstanding debt on both relatively new facilities. After multiple postponements, the 90-room Cambria Napa Valley hotel at 320 Soscol Ave. in Napa came to auction outside the Napa County courthouse on Aug. 25 with an opening bid of $40 million. The 132-room Cambria Sonoma Wine Country hotel at 5870 Labath Ave. in Rohnert Park came up for bid at $19 million earlier that day. Both went back to the lender, an affiliate of New York-based Madison Realty Capital. The private-equity firm had refinanced a construction loan on both properties in April of last year, providing $72 million to affiliates of Stratus Development…

Deal at $160K per room comes as hospitality sales shrink in SoCal market AUG 29, 2023, 5:56 PM By Trevor Bach / Research by Christian Bautista In a dire season for L.A. hotel sales, one Irvine-based development firm has picked up a 148-key property near LAX.  Greens Group, an Irvine-based company led by Ashutosh Kadakia, bought the Wingate by Wyndham Los Angeles International Airport hotel for $23.7 million last month, according to property records, buying the site with two different entities. The price comes out to around $160,000 per room. The three-star Wingate by Wyndham, located in the city of Inglewood on La Cienega Boulevard, appears to have already closed; it was not immediately clear what plans Greens Group has for the property.  The deal amounts to a rare L.A. hotel sale in 2023: One recent report from Atlas Hospitality Group found that sales across California had fallen by more than 50 percent in the first half of 2023 compared to the first half of 2022, a steeper drop even than during the Great Recession.  The decline was particularly bad in Southern California, which saw only 62 hotel deals in the first half of 2023. A year earlier the figure was 151.  “We have seen…

BY BRYNN SHAFFER / AUGUST 28, 2023 This year, hotel sales experienced a steep decline statewide, according to Atlas Hospitality Group, which recently released its midyear 2023 California sales report.  “It’s a record number decline,” said Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group, who’s been tracking California hotel sales for more than 20 years. “We’ve never seen this kind of percentage drop.” Statewide, sales decreased 53% during the first half of the year. Reay said he sees numerous similarities between now and 2009.  But, what’s even more interesting about this year’s dramatic decline in sales is that it doesn’t necessarily square with how hotels are doing, a marked contrast with 2009, when the U.S. was coming out of the Great Recession. Most hotels – specifically in Southern California – have recovered from all the residual impacts of Covid-19 in terms of an operational standpoint, with revenue and occupancy rates having generally returned to pre-pandemic levels. “The big cause of this decline is the rapid increase in interest rates,” Reay said. “The one word that would sum it up is ‘disconnect.’” Reay said the disconnect exists between the expectations of buyers and sellers – the prices that sellers are looking for are just…

by Tom York 2 days ago The price of an apartment in San Diego appears to be moderating a bit. Renters here, especially those looking for new places to live, saw continued relief as Realtor.com’s July Rental Report revealed a third consecutive month of declining year-over-year costs for studio, one- and two-bedroom properties. The drop of 1.0% from July 2022 was driven by an increased rental supply, which follows a national trend, according to the report. “The rental landscape is showing improvement, with renters in many areas spending less on rent relative to their income,” noted Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. The surge in multi-family construction and rising vacancy rates are anticipated to further suppress rent prices, granting renters more financial stability. San Diego’s average rent was $3,045 a month in July, which meant that a typical household was paying out 39.1% of their income for shelter compared to 39.3% a year ago. However, San Diego remained among the less affordable cities, alongside coastal counterparts like Los Angeles, New York and Boston. Conversely, middle-American cities like Oklahoma City emerged as more affordable options. Average housing costs nationwide consumed 25.9% of gross household income, 14 percentages points less than in San Diego. Meanwhile, another just-released…

Hotel Performance in Hawaii; Insights from Hotel Data Conference; and More IHG Hotels & Resorts this month launched its newest and 19th brand, Garner, positioned in the midscale segment. It is first rolling out in the U.S. (IHG Hotels & Resorts) By Dana MillerHotel News Now August 23, 2023 | 5:31 AM IHG’s New Midscale Brand IHG Hotels & Resorts unveiled its newest and 19th brand, Garner, which will initially be focused in the U.S. and be positioned as a midscale conversion brand, reports Hotel News Now’s Terence Baker. CEO Elie Maalouf said during IHG’s 2023 earnings call that the new brand will be launched later in the year, and there’s already 100 hotels involved in contract negotiations. In the next 10 years, the brand is expected to have roughly 500 U.S. hotels rolled out, then increasing to 1,000 by 2043. Hawaii Wildfires’ Impact on Hotels Deadly wildfires began on Hawaii’s Maui Island on Aug. 8, killing more than 100 people and billions of dollars in damage. It’s also had a noticeable impact on hotels, reports STR analysts Isaac Collazo, Chris Klauda and William Anns. STR is CoStar’s hospitality analytics division. “For the week ending Aug. 12, occupancy declined in two Hawaiian hotel markets,…

Aug 21, 2023 By Alex Barreira – Staff Reporter, San Francisco Business Times Updated Aug 21, 2023 4:52pm PDT The rate of hotel sales across the Bay Area and around California has fallen as sharply in the first half of this year as any point since 2009. Across Northern California including all nine Bay Area counties there have been 62 hotel deals through the end of June, or 45% fewer than the 112 over the same period in 2022, according to a new report from Irvine-based hotel consultancy Atlas Hospitality. The decline statewide of 53% is the most since a 51% decline in 2009, the last year of the Great Recession. Atlas Hospitality president Alan X. Reay wrote that the hotel market is bearing out several similarities to 2009, in which there is a “huge disconnect” between hotel sellers and the buyers that would have to take on commensurate loan obligations. “We are now seeing an uptick in the notice of default filings and foreclosures, as well as borrowers simply handing the keys back to the lenders,” Reay wrote in the report. “As long as interest rates stay at their current levels there is going to be more pressure on sellers and lenders…