Atlas in the news

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/08/04/covid-economy-bay-area-california-hotel-purchases-show-big-rebound/ Amid massive job losses for lodging employees, investors grab choice hotel properties By GEORGE AVALOS | gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group PUBLISHED: August 4, 2021 at 7:45 a.m. | UPDATED: August 4, 2021 at 2:37 p.m. SAN JOSE — Buyers grabbed hotel properties in the Bay Area and California at a record pace during the first half of 2021, a sign investors are confident the state and region will recuperate from coronavirus-linked maladies. The Bay Area was one of the regions that led the boom in hotel purchases from January through June of this year, a new report from Atlas Hospitality Group shows. Among Northern California regions, Santa Clara County generated the most hotel purchases and the largest combined dollar amount over the first six months of 2021, according to the report. “California hotel sales have completely rebounded from the COVID-19 impacted results that we saw” over the first six months of 2020, the report stated. In California, 293 hotels were bought during the first six months of 2021, up 157% from the 114 hotels that were bought statewide over the first six months of 2020, according to Atlas Hospitality, which tracks the lodging sector in California. The surge was far more pronounced in…

https://www.sdtranscript.com/common/login/?sourceid=997995&source=news By Thor Kamban Biberman Thursday, August 5, 2021 Hotel sales in California are setting new records in term of price and transaction volume, according to a mid-year report from Atlas Hospitality Group. “California hotel sales have completely rebounded from the COVID-impact that we saw through the first six month of 2020,” the report stated. Atlas Hospitality Group found statewide hotel sales rose a record 157 percent through the first half of this year. The dollar volume for California’s hotel sales reached $5.2 billion during the first six months of 2021, marking a 450 percent increase, which is also a record for the state. The median price per room climbed 13 percent year-over-year, according to the report. The sale of the 59-room Alila Ventana in Big Sur set a new record at more than $2.5 million per room. Atlas Hospitality Group president Alan Reay said no one could have predicted such a turnaround, not to mention one that has happened in record time. “I think the numbers are astounding,” he said. “People were talking like it would take until 2024 or 2025 to get back to normal, but what we’re seeing now wasn’t forecast.” Reay said not only are travelers…

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2021/08/04/hotel-sales-hot-covid-rebound-investment.html By Alex Barreira  –  Staff Reporter San Francisco Business Times Aug 4, 2021 Updated Aug 4, 2021, 12:13pm PDT The hotel investment sales market is heating up to historic levels in both the Bay Area and all of California. Statewide, the first half of 2021 set records for the number of hotels sales (293), dollar volume ($5.26 billion) and highest price per room ever paid statewide (you may have stayed there), per a report from Atlas Hospitality Group released Tuesday. Those transactions beat the record for first-half hotel sales set in 2017 by 41.7%. The dollar volume surpasses the first-half 2015 record by 22.5%. Sales this year are more than double what closed in the first six months of 2019 — the last comparable period before the pandemic — at 145 deals worth $2.05 billion. “No one could have predicted the kind of sales numbers and incredible rebound that we have seen in the California hotel market,” Atlas President Alan Reay said in the report. He has said previously that lots of capital was raised because there was a widespread expectation that distressed hotels would hit the market. When that didn’t happen, investors still had money to get into the market seeing its…

https://www.costar.com/article/1192957393?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=hospitality&utm_content=p6 First Half of 2021 Saw Record Number of Deals, Dollar Volume By Bryan Wroten Hotel News Now August 5, 2021 | 5:29 AM The California hotels transaction market has rebounded from the coronavirus pandemic faster than expected. “I’ve never seen a stronger seller’s market than what we have right now,” Atlas Hospitality Group President Alan Reay said. With every industry analyst predicting U.S. hotels will see normal operations return in a few years, the activity seen in California during the first six months of the year “is pretty phenomenal,” he said. Atlast Hospitality Group’s California Hotel Sales Survey 2021 Mid-Year reports there were 293 hotel deals during the first half of the year, a 157% year-over-year increase. The number of sales also set a new record, surpassing 2017’s record number by 41.7%. The state also saw a new record dollar volume in sales at $5.2 billion, beating 2015’s previous record amount by 22.5%. The median price per room jumped 13%. The highest-price sale was the 130-room Montage Healdsburg in Sonoma County, which sold for $265 million. The 59-room Alila Ventana Inn & Spa in Big Sur claimed the highest price per room paid in California at more than $2.5 million per room,…

https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/napa-s-meritage-and-vista-collina-resorts-for-sale-price-could-top-500-million/article_8dcf5388-2f46-5bd6-9ed4-1807ebb6320d.html Jennifer Huffman Jul 28, 2021 | Updated Aug 2, 2021 Between this Wednesday and Friday, a different kind of visitor is expected at Napa’s Meritage and Vista Collina resorts. Instead of vacationers, potential buyers were invited to tour the properties. The resorts, totaling 467 rooms over 36 acres, are for sale. An asking price was not provided. However, compared to other such hotel sales, the dual property could be sold for as much as $500 million, according to one industry expert. Both of the south Napa resorts are owned by Pacific Hospitality Group of Irvine, Calif. The adjacent Vino Bello timeshare property was not included on the sales listing. Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Napa Valley Register. Special offer: 1 year for $26 According to a property summary from CBRE, the sale includes the 322-room Meritage Resort & Spa, the 145-room Vista Collina Resort, a “fully operational” 9-acre vineyard,” a 5.39-acre fully entitled 253-room AC and  Residence Inn development site and three commercial condominiums providing “back of house” space. In total, the space offers 80,000 square feet of indoor/outdoor meeting and event space including the “two largest” ballrooms in wine county, stated CBRE. Together, it is…

https://www.ocbj.com/news/2021/aug/02/oc-hotel-openings-2021-outpace-20-and-19/ 613-ROOM WESTIN AMONG SIX TO OPEN THROUGH JUNE By Katie Murar Monday, August 2, 2021 After a slowdown in hotel openings in 2020, six hotels totaling 1,159 rooms opened in Orange County for the first half of this year, the latest sign of an industry rebound, according to a midyear development report by Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality Group. The latest report shows a big jump from the same period in 2020, when four hotels with 484 rooms opened ahead of the onset of coronavirus in the county last March. New openings are also ahead of mid-2019 levels, when two hotels totaling 280 rooms opened. Several of these hotel openings, including the 613-room Westin Anaheim Resort, delayed their opening to 2021 amid historically low occupancy levels last year. Three of the six new hotels are in Anaheim. “Many hotel developers throughout the state chose to slow down construction and/or delay opening until California started to reduce or eliminate a lot of the COVID-19 restrictions,” Atlas Founder Alan Reay said in the report. Those occupancy levels are recovering faster than many industry watchers originally thought, with hotel operators preparing for a busy summer. Bill O’Connell, who counts six hotels in Anaheim as chief executive of hospitality…

https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/orange-county/business/2021/07/26/anaheim–la-hotel-occupancy-up–but-delta-variant-could-deal–serious-blow–to-the-local-hotel-industry BY JOSEPH PIMENTEL ORANGE COUNTY PUBLISHED 6:27 PM PT JUL. 26, 2021 ANAHEIM, Calif. — Just as things began to look up for the hospitality industry, the delta variant could upend its momentum. While not at pre-COVID levels yet, occupancy, daily rates and revenue have all increased for hotels in Los Angeles and Anaheim since California lifted coronavirus restrictions. What You Need To Know Anaheim and Los Angeles hotels are rebounding from the pandemic Hotel occupancy, average daily rate and other key metrics are up in June and July, according to STR, a hospitality data and analytics company Some hotel owners are concerned about the delta variant and taking a “wait and see approach” The delta variant is considered to be more contagious and infecting mostly unvaccinated individuals, health care officials say But the spread of the more highly contagious delta variant and a surge of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, mainly among the unvaccinated, has some hoteliers worried. “Right now, hotel owners are taking a ‘wait and see’ attitude to the new delta variant and are hoping that we do not have to go in to another complete shutdown,” said Alan Reay, president of the hotel brokerage firm Atlas Hospitality….

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2021/07/22/pebblebrook-hotel-sell-union-square.html By Alex Barreira  Staff Reporter, San Francisco Business Times Jul 22, 2021 Updated Jul 23, 2021, 10:46am PDT San Francisco’s second-largest hotel owner, Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, has agreed to sell its 189-room Villa Florence San Francisco Union Square for $87.5 million, or $462,963 per key, to an undisclosed buyer. The transaction will mark the second hotel unloaded this year by the Maryland-based real estate investment trust; it sold the 416-room Kimpton Sir Francis Drake Hotel in Union Square in February to Northview Hotel Group of Connecticut. The latest sale will reduce its portfolio here to 10 properties. Pebblebrook (NYSE: PEB) announced it was seeking a buyer in June. It expects the sale to close later this quarter. The Villa Florence was scheduled for a $12 million renovation that was put on hold due to the pandemic. The project was part of $60 million in investment Pebblebrook CEO Jon Bortz had threatened to leave on the table last fall in response to, among other things, the Healthy Buildings Ordinance. Pebblebrook acquired the Villa Florence, built in 1908 and located at 225 Powell St. near Union Square, in 2018 as part of its acquisition with LaSalle Hotel Properties, which had bought the hotel for $67.2 million in 2011. The pending sale…

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/07/20/bankrupt-hotel-downtown-san-jose-not-reopen-2021-real-estate-covid/ Owner of Fairmont hotel wants until at least this fall to file new plan to revamp hotel’s finances By GEORGE AVALOS | gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group PUBLISHED: July 20, 2021 at 9:36 a.m. | UPDATED: July 20, 2021 at 9:56 a.m. SAN JOSE — A bankrupt hotel in downtown San Jose might not reopen until December — if then — based on a new proposed timetable for the hotel’s owner to file a plan to revamp its shattered finances, court papers show. The current schedule eyed by the owner of the bankrupt Fairmont San Jose, located in the city’s downtown hotel district, is pushing the timetable for final approval of a plan to reorganize the hotel until sometime after Nov. 30. SC SJ Holdings and FMT SJ, two groups controlled by hotel owner Sam Hirbod, a Bay Area business executive, have asked the bankruptcy court to extend the period during which it has the exclusive right to file a comprehensive plan to reorganize the iconic downtown San Jose lodging. Hirbod’s group asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to extend the deadline to file a plan until Oct. 4 of this year. The hotel owner also wants the court to extend until Nov. 30 the time…

https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/article/article/california-hotel-construction-booms-but-fewer-are-planned/ GARY QUACKENBUSH FOR THE NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL July 22, 2021, 11:03AM Hotel construction is booming across California as well as in the North Bay, according to a new report by a real estate brokerage specializing in such properties. Fifty-one new hotels with 7,168 rooms have opened statewide so far this year, representing a 38% increase from last year, according to Atlas Hospitality Group. Statewide, while new hotel openings in the state are up as of this month and 132 are under construction, that’s lower than the 194 reported last July, according the Irvine-based brokerage. In Sonoma, Marin, Napa and Solano Counties, 83 hotels are in various planning stages, according to the survey. That includes five projects with 537 rooms under construction in the North Bay. Some of these projects have been permitted for several years, and experts say some may never be completed. Atlas President Alan X. Reay said there are several factors behind the spike in future hotel planning activity. “California hotels are enjoying record profits along with record revenues,” he said. “In addition, the trend by those buying existing hotels has pushed prices up to the point where it often makes more sense to build a…

https://www.costar.com/article/1156168595?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=hospitality&utm_content=p1 Pandemic-Related Hurdles Slow New Projects By Bryan Wroten Hotel News Now July 19, 2021 | 6:28 AM California’s hotel development trends are showing the effects of both recovering demand as well as lasting pandemic challenges. The number of hotels that opened in California in the first half of 2021 increased 46% year over year, but the number of hotels and hotel rooms in construction both dropped by 32%, according to Atlas Hospitality Group’s “California Hotel Development Survey 2021 Mid-Year.” Fifty one hotels opened during the first six months of the year, and the number of new rooms opening doubled compared to last year from 3,500 to 7,168. At the same time, the number of hotels under construction dropped from 194 to 132, and the number of rooms fell from 26,418 to 17,962. The number of hotels and guest rooms in the planning stage remained stable year over year, growing from 1,240 hotels to 1,246 and from 163,904 rooms to 164,676. The jump in hotels and guest rooms opening during the first half of the year isn’t surprising, Atlas Hospitality President Alan Reay said. The pace of openings picked up in May and June as owners held off on opening until…

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2021/07/19/santa-clara-hotel-boom-construction-pipeline-new.html By Alex Barreira  Staff Reporter, San Francisco Business Times July 19, 2021 Through the first half of the year Santa Clara County is Northern California’s leading submarket for new hotels, with more new properties opening up, under construction and in planning than anywhere else in the Bay Area and nearly the same for the rest of the state. Across the nine Bay Area counties 14 new hotels debuted from new construction, ranging from the 12-room Calistoga Motor Lodge in Napa to the 200-room Shashi Mountain View, according to the just released mid-year report from hotel consultancy and brokerage Atlas Hospitality. Six of the region’s new hotels are in Santa Clara county, where huge demand generators and a comparatively easier path to new construction than San Francisco are fueling optimism, despite construction and staffing labor and building materials like lumber and steel at a premium. “Santa Clara has been one of the hottest hotel markets in the entire country,” said Alan Reay president and CEO of the Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality. “Many hotel developers see this market as offering terrific long term potential, due to the focus on tech and life science industries.” Santa Clara accounts for about 18% of Northern California’s…