Atlas in the news

San Diego Business Journal 08/16/16 County’s Hotel Property Deal Volume Declined in First Half By Lou Hirsh http://sdbj.com/news/2016/aug/16/countys-hotel-property-deal-volume-declined-first-/   San Diego County’s hotel property transaction volume declined 38 percent from a year ago in the first half of 2016, with the dollar volume down 65 percent, according to a recent mid-year report by brokerage and consulting firm Atlas Hospitality Group. San Diego County saw a total of 10 hotels change hands in the January-to-June period, with total deal volume topping $242.1 million. Atlas officials said the San Diego region’s average price per room on completed deals dropped 16 percent, to $171,016; but the median price per room in those deals rose 23 percent from the first half of 2015, to $125,321. The local region’s most expensive hotel transaction of the first half was the $80.5 million deal for the 284-room San Diego Marriott Del Mar in University Towne Center, acquired by New York-based Carey Watermark Investors 2 Inc. The largest local hotel sold during the first half was the 350-room Marriott San Diego Mission Valley, purchased by an affiliate of Connecticut-based Wheelock Street Capital LLC for $76 million. Atlas President Alan Reay said California as a whole saw the number…

Orange County Register 08/16/16 ‘Taking a Breather’: Hotel Market Cools By Hannah Madans http://www.ocregister.com/articles/year-725957-percent-sales.html   Hotel sales volume was down 56 percent in California the first half of this year as buyers and sellers retreated from the market, according to Atlas Hospitality, an Irvine-based real estate firm. Orange County was a bright spot as hotel sales were up 27 percent. “Sales are way down year to date, but that’s not a surprise to us,” Atlas President Alan Reay said. Last year “was a record-breaking year for sales transactions, and we did expect to see a decline, but we didn’t predict this large of a decline.” Plummeting hotel stock contributed largely to the plunge, Reay said, as publicly traded hotel groups were no longer buying and became sellers. “We had a lot of inventory in the first quarter and not a lot of buyers. A lot of uncertainty in the marketplace, people thinking we might have peaked. Buyers were very cautious,” he said. Reay added that the second quarter of the year was better than the first. “The market is taking a breather, and people are looking at 2016 as a year where we might see where the direction hotels are…

The San Diego Union-Tribune 08/15/16 Hotel Sales Slow in California By Lori Weisberg http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/aug/15/hotel-sales-slow-california-san-diego/   Hotel real estate values in California continued to climb during the first half of this year, but the pace slowed considerably as fewer large, high-profile properties traded hands, a newly released report shows. Based on the metric of median price per room, hotel sales values rose 11.3 percent statewide, although that is down considerably from the 25 percent increase during the same period last year, according to a mid-year survey from Orange County-based Atlas Hospitality Group. In Southern California, the volume of transactions varied widely, with San Diego County seeing a 38 percent drop in the number of sales while Los Angeles and Orange counties recorded a healthy uptick. But in all three regions, the dollar amount of those transactions fell considerably — from 32 percent in L.A. to 83 percent in Orange County. Statewide, sales during the first six months totaled more than $1.9 billion, off sharply from the $4.4 billion total during the same period last year. That’s owing in part to a larger number of smaller hotels selling and the absence of large real estate investment trusts from the market, said Atlas…

HotelNewsNow 08/15/16 California Building Boom Leads to Worries Over Supply By Sean McCracken http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/63929/California-building-boom-leads-to-worries-over-supply   REPORT FROM THE U.S.—An extended period of strong hotel development has led to some supply concerns across California, but some markets are expected to remain strong as they enjoy favorable fundamentals and conditions that will keep supply growth to a minimum. Atlas Hospitality Group’s 2016 midyear California Hotel Development Survey notes that the state is in the “midst of a hotel building boom” that is helping to make up for the “lack of new construction from 2009 to 2013.” Supply growth in the state during that period was very moderate, according to Atlas President Alan Reay, and Californian hoteliers enjoyed strong revenue per available room growth. He said the dynamics get a bit more difficult with RevPAR growth shrinking and supply growth ramping up. Flattening RevPAR growth “is coming at a time when a lot of product is coming online,” he said. “I won’t say we’re at the tipping point because some say we’re getting to where we should be because we didn’t do new construction for a few years.” He said some markets have more reason to worry than others. “There are pockets with…

Orange County Business Journal 08/11/16 Hotel Menage to Rebrand as Sheraton By Paul Hughes http://www.ocbj.com/news/2016/aug/11/hotel-menage-rebrand-sheraton/   The Hotel Menage in Anaheim plans to rebrand as a Four Points by Sheraton, industry sources said. The plan includes renovations of the hotel’s 255 rooms expected to begin in the fall and continue into early 2017. La Casa Anaheim Resort LLC, an affiliate of Casa Resorts Inc. in Laguna Beach, sold the Menage to Taiwan investor Kitty Lo last August for $34.2 million. Partners Richard Ham, Takao Shinomiya and Christopher Keller bought the hotel in 2006 for $22.5 million. The hotel had been a Holiday Inn prior to the purchase. Casa renovated rooms and created an environment that catered to families and visitors to Disneyland Resort, a mile from Menage. Ham said at the time Casa sold it, “We marketed it well and have some very loyal customers.” Calls to the hotel’s new owner and her company’s chief executive weren’t returned. “Due to all the new hotels coming into the marketplace, they might feel they need a national reservation system,” said Alan Reay, chief executive of Irvine hotel broker Atlas Hospitality Group. Menage bookings are already available on the Starwood system under its…

08/03/16 San Diego County Leads State in New Hotel Development By Thor Kamban Biberman San Diego County has added six hotels with 1,017 rooms so far in 2016 — the largest number of hotels of any county in the state, according to Atlas Hospitality Group. “We’re forecasting a huge uptick in hotel development,” said Alan Reay, Atlas Hospitality president. “The main reason is the huge price investors are paying for existing product.” On July 22, a unit of Carey Watermark Investors paid $130.85 million for the 372-room Marriott La Jolla being developed in University Towne Centre. The price works out to $351,750 per room. The largest hotel to open in the county this year was the dual-branded, 253-room SpringHill Suites and 147-room Residence Inn on Lane Field North along Harbor Drive. In addition, Atlas noted there are four other hotels with 957 rooms currently under construction in San Diego County. The largest in progress is the 400-room InterContinental Lane Field South at West Broadway and Pacific Highway in downtown San Diego. The Lane Field development team includes developer Portman Holdings, designer John Portman & Associates, Hensel Phelps Construction, and Lankford & Associates. The 19-story InterContinental, which The CoStar Group expects…

Los Angeles Times 08/10/16 Queen Mary Is Getting a Bow to Stern Makeover — and a Club in the Boiler Room By Andrew Khouri http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-queen-mary-renovations-20160808-snap-story.html   When Joshua Schwandt stayed at the Queen Mary several years ago, he loved the Art Deco woodwork and the way the Observation Bar oozed an old-timey feel. He wasn’t as ecstatic about his aging hotel room. The shower only drizzled water, and the bed felt like “one of those dorm room beds that have been slept on for 50 years,” he recalled… …Alan X. Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group, said existing hotels are increasingly renovating to remain competitive with new lodgings, which are under construction in Southern California at a record rate. “Hotels that do not renovate or update are going to have a really hard time in the next three to five years,” he said. In Urban Commons’ case, “they are [creating] the cruise ship experience without having to sail around down to Mexico,” Reay said. “That will definitely allow them to push rates — no question.”

KEYT – KCOY – KKFX 08/08/16 Hotel Boom Expected to Increase Employment in the Central Coast By Amanda Valdes http://www.keyt.com/news/hotel-boom-expected-to-increase-employment-in-the-central-coast/41107078   LOMPOC, Calif. – Construction at the Hilton Garden Inn in Lompoc is in full swing. “Lompoc hasn’t seen a hotel development in over 30 years this is the first hotel being build since the 80’s,” says Gilda Cordova, Lompoc Land Holdings. For people driving by they can see the beams are up and so is the wooden frame outlining where each room will be. “There’s a need in the market to have something newer, fresher, to service full service guests and people coming in with tourism,” says Cordova. She says the hotel will also bring more jobs to Lompoc. A total of 120 to 125 jobs are expected once the project is complete. “It’s a great opportunity to go out into the community and reach those people looking for a job,” says Cordova. We have the highest unemployment in the county and to bring 100-125 jobs to Lompoc is tremendous,” says Ken Ostini, CEO and President of the Lompoc Chamber of Commerce. However, construction is not only happening in Lompoc. There is also a Hilton Garden Inn being built…

The Real Deal 08/05/16 Could California Have Too Many Hotels in the Works? By Cathaleen Chen http://therealdeal.com/la/2016/08/05/could-california-have-too-many-hotels-in-the-works/ California developers may be overdoing hotel construction. More than 17,000 hotels rooms are under construction in California, nearly 40 percent of which are in Los Angeles County, according to a new report by Atlas Hospitality Group cited by the L.A. Times. The volume of hotel projects has some experts wondering if supply will begin to outpace demand. Developers rushed into L.A.’s hotel market en masse over the past few years, enticed by high occupancy rates and revenue and room rates that had surpassed pre-recession levels. But too many may have had the same idea at once, Atlas President Alan Reay told the Times. Of the 563 hotels in the planning stages statewide, he expects only 20 percent will ultimately get built. In L.A. county alone, 6,772 rooms and 37 hotels are under construction. “If we look back in history, we can see we’ve gone through a number of booms and busts where we’ve added too many rooms,” Reay said.

The San Diego Union-Tribune 08/04/16 Hotel Development Booming in California By Lori Weisberg http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/aug/04/california-san-diego-in-hotel-building-boom/   California, like the rest of the country, is in the midst of a hotel building boom, with more than 17,000 rooms under construction and 84,000 more in the pipeline. The surge in development, following a years-long drought in new hotels, is captured in a mid-year report released by Orange County-based Atlas Hospitality Group, which tracks the hotel real estate sector…  

Bisnow 08/02/16 San Diego County Adds 1,017 Hotel Rooms in 2016 and More Are Coming By Patricia Kirk https://www.bisnow.com/san-diego/news/hotel/san-diego-county-adds-1017-hotel-rooms-in-2016-and-more-coming-63498   San Diego County added six new hotels with 1,017 rooms in 2016, according to a new report from Irvine, CA-based Atlas Hospitality Group. The largest new San Diego hotel opening so far this year was the dual-branded 253-room SpringHill Suites and 147-room Residence Inn San Diego Downtown/Bayfront, at 900 Bayfront Court. There are four hotel projects with 957 rooms under construction throughout San Diego County, the largest of which is the 400-room InterContinental San Diego Lane Field in Downtown SD. The county also has 52 hotels with 10,439 rooms in the pipeline, noted the report. Overall, California has 17,236 rooms under construction, accounting for 10.5% of the 164,860 rooms in 1,259 projects under construction nationwide. This includes 37 hotels with 6,772 rooms in Los Angeles County, 12 hotels with 2,089 rooms in Orange County, and eight hotels with 1,536 rooms in the Inland Empire (San Bernardino and Riverside counties). The Golden State has a record 563 new hotels with 84,231 rooms in the pipeline, of which 37,343 are in SoCal.