Atlas in the news

The luxury SLS Beverly Hills hotel created by hotel and nightclub mogul Sam Nazarian has been sold for $195 million to Torrance multilevel marketing and hotel firm Sunrider International. Nazarian’s company SBE opened the 297-room hotel in 2008, just as the hospitality industry was going into a recession-related skid. The hotel business has since recovered and investors have snatched up high-end Southern California properties at steep prices in recent months. ———— FOR THE RECORD: Hotel sale: In the May 5 Business section, an article about the sale of the SLS Beverly Hills hotel identified the sellers as Sam Nazarian’s company SBE and co-owner CIM Group. CIM was not a co-owner of the property and was not involved in the sale. — ————   In January, the five-star Montage Laguna Beach sold for $360 million — a record $1.4 million per room for a California hotel. The 47-room Malibu Beach Inn traded for $79.9 million in February, and the trendy 182-room Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles just sold for $103 million. This year’s sales are building on a 2014 trend that saw real estate investors rush into the hotel business as tourism and business travel surged. Investors bought 399 California…

The trendy Ace Hotel that opened last year in a refurbished historic building in downtown Los Angeles has been purchased by a Maryland real estate investment trust for $103 million. The 182-room hotel near the intersection of Broadway and Olympic Boulevard will continue to be operated by Ace Hotel Group, buyer Chesapeake Lodging Trust said. The seller was Connecticut real estate investment firm Greenfield Partners. Film luminaries Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith built the 13-story United Artists building at 927 S. Broadway in 1927. It held offices for rent and a theater where United Artists pictures debuted, starting with Pickford’s film “My Best Girl.” The offices were converted to hotel rooms. The 1,600-seat theater has been restored and is now used as a meeting, function and entertainment venue for rent. “The theater booking pace is up considerably from its first year and will host over 100 events in 2015,” said James L. Francis, Chesapeake’s chief executive. “We estimate that the theater alone will generate revenues in excess of $4.4 million and net operating profit of over $2 million.” The Ace Hotel also has a rooftop bar that stands between a swimming pool and outdoor lounge area….

Fresh from a multimillion-dollar renovation, Downtown San Diego’s all-suites luxury hotel has a new owner, and a new format to boot: Vacation ownership under a Marriott Vacations Worldwide flag. Marriott Vacations Worldwide has paid $52.65M, or some $199,400/room, for the hotel from NYC private equity fund Westbrook Partners, according to Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality. Marriott’s Ed Kinney says the company intends to operate The Declan as a hotel for the remainder of the year before converting the property to timeshare ownership. Ed says the fact that The Declan now operates as a suites hotel makes it ideally suited for conversion into ownership. “We’re not making any major changes,” he says. The 264-room hotel at 701 A St completed a huge reno after going independent from Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ Sheraton brand in 2013.  Marriott Vacations Worldwide also operates the San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina and the Coronado Island Marriott Resort & Spa as part of its vacation ownership plan. Source: https://www.bisnow.com/archives/newsletter/local-real-estate/san-diego/4821-breaking-news-the-declan-to-be-transformed-into-marriott-timeshare/

ANAHEIM – The Walt Disney Co. has purchased a hotel that sits directly across Harbor Boulevard from its two theme parks for $32 million, according to public records. Disney, through a limited-liability corporation, Carousel Holdings EAT, purchased the 131-room Carousel Inn & Suites on 1530 S. Harbor Blvd. from Good Hope International. Messages to Good Hope representatives for comment were not returned on Wednesday. A Carousel Inn manager said he was unaware of the sale. A Disneyland spokeswoman confirmed the purchase. Sandwiched between the Pizza Press restaurant and the Tropicana Inn & Suites, the five-story hotel features a rooftop pool and guest rooms ranging in size from 300 to 700 square feet. Guests typically pay $109 to $400 per night. Disney finalized the purchase on March 23, according to public records. “The Walt Disney Co. saw this as a strategic investment, as opportunities to purchase properties in close proximity to the resort are extremely rare,” said Suzi Brown, a Disneyland spokeswoman. Brown said the current management will continue to operate the Carousel Inn. She added that Disney has no long-term plans for the property at this time. “I think whatever they have in mind will be good for the resort…

Strategic Hotels & Resorts and its joint partner are selling the 419-room Hyatt Regency La Jolla for a reported $118 million Source: http://www.sddt.com/RealEstate/article.cfm?SourceCode=20150428czh&_t=Hyatt+Regency+La+Jolla+selling+for+118+million#Article

The 219-room Doubletree hotel in Mission Valley has sold for more than $49 million, marking the second hotel deal in a week. Built in 1970, the Doubletree San Diego-Hotel Circle was sold to Oak Coast Properties, a four-year-old investment firm that invests in retail, residential and hotel properties. Also selling in the last week was The Grand Del Mar, one of San Diego’s top luxury resorts. Purchasing the Carmel Valley property was financier Richard Blum’s private equity firm, Blum Capital, although the seller, “Papa” Doug Manchester – who is also publisher of U-T San Diego – will retain a minority stake. The transaction valued the 400-acre resort at $230 million. The sale of the Doubletree involved two transactions, one a leasehold and the other land, which together totaled $49.25 million, according to CoStar Group, which documents commercial real estate transactions. The eight-story hotel property includes the Panini Restaurant, meeting and event space, an outdoor pool and spa, and a five-story parking garage. “This was an opportunity for us to acquire a well-positioned asset with a world class brand in a very strong sub market of San Diego, Mission Valley,” said Phillip Nahas, a managing partner with Oak Coast. “San Diego’s…

The forecast for San Diego’s tourism industry in 2015 is bright with a few clouds. The sunny outlook for the year was presented March 20 at Carmel Valley’s R.A. Rauch and Associates’ annual lodging industry event, “An Extraordinary Year Ahead,” at the Hilton Garden Inn in Torrey Hills. The event featured a discussion moderated by Gary London from The London Group Realty Advisors with two experts in the hotel sector: longtime Carmel Valley resident Robert Rauch of R.A. Rauch, and Alan Reay from Atlas Hospitality Group, a specialist in capital markets and a leading hotel industry adviser. “I think this is going to be the best year we’ve ever had in the U.S.,” Rauch said. San Diego finished 2014 at 74.6 percent occupancy, higher than the national average, and is forecast to surpass 75 percent this year. Rauch said they had a record year at his Hilton Garden Inn and at Homewood Suites next door. Many attendees at the forecast event were interested in learning more about the impact of Airbnb, an online vacation rental platform, in which rooms and in some cases entire houses are rented by the night in residential communities by the homeowner. A quick search for…