Atlas in the news

SoCal Real Estate 08/27/18 What Does Anbang’s Disposition Mean for SoCal Hotels? By Carrie Rossenfeld https://socal-re.com/what-does-anbangs-disposition-mean-for-socal-hotels/ Several news sources have recently reported that Chinese insurance firm Anbang Insurance Group Company is seeking to dispose of its $5.5 billion U.S. luxury-hotel portfolio, which it had acquired from Blackstone in September 2016. Alan Reay, president of Irvine, California–based Atlas Hospitality Group, tells SoCal Real Estate that there’s no downside to the move. “Of the 15 hotels that Anbang purchased from Blackstone, three hotels are located in Southern California,” says Reay. “They are Loews Santa Monica (347 rooms), Montage Laguna Beach (260 rooms), and the Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel (396 rooms). When purchased, the allocated prices on these three hotels accounted for 19.7 percent of the entire purchase price ($1.084 billion).” Reay points out that the market for high-end trophy hotels is still very strong, especially in the SoCal market, so he doesn’t see any negatives to the proposed sale. “The only question is how much of a discount will be needed as Anbang is looing to sell the entire portfolio, rather than single assets, which limits the buyer pool somewhat.” In an interesting twist, Reay says Blackstone will be one of the…

San Francisco Chronicle 08/28/18 L.A. Investor Could Buy Fourth Hotel on S.F.’s Nob Hill By Roland Li https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/L-A-investor-could-buy-fourth-hotel-on-S-F-s-13188883.php   A Los Angeles investor appears poised to buy the Huntington Hotel atop San Francisco’s Nob Hill, in what would be his firm’s fourth hotel acquisition in the neighborhood, according to state records. The potential buyer, Woodridge Capital Partners, previously purchased three of Nob Hill’s largest hotels — the Fairmont, Mark Hopkins and Stanford Court — which have more than 1,300 rooms combined. Woodridge, founded and run by Michael Rosenfeld, sold the Fairmont in 2015 and Mark Hopkins in 2017 for a hefty profit. A corporation called Mason Palms Ltd. applied last week for a state restaurant license at the 135-room Huntington. Rick Arambulo is listed as an officer of Mason Palms and is also president of Woodridge. Mason Palms previously applied for similar licenses for the Fairmont, Stanford Court and hotels in Southern California that Woodridge has purchased, strongly suggesting Woodridge is close to acquiring the Huntington as well. The Huntington’s owner, Grace International of Singapore, is currently in contract to sell the building, said a person familiar with the property who was not authorized to speak publicly about the transaction…

Santa Cruz Sentinel 08/27/18 Santa Cruz Hotels See Record Room Rates as Nearby Cities Ask for Higher Hotel Room Taxes By Jondi Gumz http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/article/NE/20180827/NEWS/180829727   Hotels and motels in the city are booming, with record year-to-date occupancy of 72 percent and average room rates reaching $200 for June and July, a first, according to STR, a data and analytics company that tracks the industry. Last year, hotels countywide tracked by STR tallied nearly $152 million in revenue, a steady upward trajectory from $107.7 million five years ago, and this year’s revenue is likely to increase. Alan Reay of Atlas Hospitality, which tracks hotel development and sales, reports that “2017 was a record-breaking year for California hotel development, and as we predicted, 2018 is on pace to eclipse it.” Despite the demand for overnight stays, it’s taking longer than expected to complete five new hotels planned or under construction. • Framing stands silently at the Coastview Hotel, 301 Beach St. in Beach Flats, where work has stopped. A neighbor said the city halted the project as lacking proper permits. Coastview owner Prakash Babu envisioned a white three-story Spanish colonial-style hotel with 24 balconies and a rooftop deck with a firepit overlooking…

Orange County Business Journal 08/27/18 Anaheim Isn’t Happiest Place for Developers By Paul Hughes http://www.ocbj.com/news/2018/aug/27/anaheim-isnt-happiest-place-developers/ A sizzling summer for Anaheim hotels is getting hotter in more ways than one. Room rates and occupancy levels are healthy, according to recent data from CBRE Hotels, and the city’s two largest trade shows officially re-upped at Anaheim Convention Center for several years apiece, according to destination marketer Visit Anaheim. However, a less welcoming city council and a November ballot measure linking a minimum hourly wage to hotel incentives are bringing simmering tensions to a boil. At stake is whether developers will pour $1.1 billion into three new hotels; two other projects valued at $550 million are already underway but could also be affected. Disneyland Resort said its part of the overall investment, a planned $625 million luxury hotel, is on hold and that it wants out of deals with the city covering bed and gate taxes. Other area hotel developers are also expressing doubts about their projects. To be sure, hotel development near the convention center and Disneyland remains strong and spreads to the rest of the city and neighboring areas. Anaheim has touted $4 billion in leisure and hospitality investments overall. Resort…

The Registry 08/21/18 Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco Is Up for Sale By Jon Peterson https://news.theregistrysf.com/westin-st-francis-hotel-in-san-francisco-is-up-for-sale/   The Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco is now on the market for sale. The property had been under the ownership of China-based Anbang Insurance Group. However, this was asset recently was taken over by the Chinese government as one of 15 hotel assets that the government is planning to sell. Anbang had acquired the Westin St. Francis as part of a $5.5 billion portfolio investment in 2016. The allocation price for the San Francisco hotel at the time was one billion dollars, according to published reports. The other properties in the portfolio included assets located in Manhattan, Chicago, Miami and Jackson Hole, Wyo. The sales price this time around will depend on how the property may be packaged for the new buyer, and if the hotel is sold by itself or as part of a portfolio. “In a portfolio sale, I would expect that the sales price would be somewhere around $1 billion for the St. Francis. If the property were to be sold by itself, that the price would go up by 10 percent to 15 percent, or…

The Real Deal 08/21/18 Jamison Eliminates Hotel Portion of Koreatown Strip Mall Project By Natalie Hoberman https://therealdeal.com/la/2018/08/21/jamison-eliminates-hotel-portion-of-koreatown-strip-mall-project/   Koreatown’s most prominent landlord, Jamison, has revised its plans for one of its many multifamily projects in the neighborhood. The firm, acting through an LLC, has removed the hotel portion of its mixed-use project at Eighth Street and Western Avenue, according to new permit documents published with the Department of City Planning Monday. Located at 800 S. Western Avenue, the project would include 230 apartment units within a new eight-story building. There would also be about 12,000 square feet of commercial space. Originally, Jamison had planned to build a 229,000-square-foot adaptive reuse project with a hotel, apartments and retail. The developer had already secured permits to build a 12-story structure with 96 apartments, 148 guest rooms and 58,000 square feet of commercial space, according to a filing published in April. In both cases, the project calls for the demolition of a parking lot and two-story strip mall. IB Plaza, located at 808 S. Western Avenue, would remain intact. Renderings by TCA Architects revealed a remodeled mid-rise development that incorporated the Art Deco style currently found at the site. A representative for Jamison…

San Fernando Valley Business Journal 08/20/18 Hotel Construction Rising http://sfvbj.com/news/2018/aug/20/century-21-starts-anew-logo-rebrand/ Hotel Construction Rising 20180820

Napa Valley Register 08/20/18 New $45 Million Investment for a Planned Stanly Ranch Resort in South Napa By Jennifer Huffman https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/new-million-investment-for-a-planned-stanly-ranch-resort-in/article_efa3c49b-f4f8-58e7-9ec6-e8eb42d0d1dd.html   The stalled 150-room Stanly Ranch resort project has a new investor that recently contributed $45 million to the long-promised development, suggesting that construction is on the horizon. A deed recording a $45 million transaction at the south Napa parcel was filed on June 29 in the Napa County Recorder office. The project ownership, formerly called Stanly Ranch Resort Napa LLC. is now known as SRGA LP, according to the deed. The investment “is a positive thing for the project,” said Chris Crosby, a project manager for the resort, which is located on Stanly Cross Road just south of the Highway 12/29/121 intersection. Crosby wouldn’t comment further on the new investor, but he said the project is going forward. In fact, on June 27, Crosby and new partners met with city of Napa planning department staffers, said city planning manager Mike Allen. “I believe the investors wanted assurance that the city still considered the entitlements active before they invested,” said Allen. The city first approved plans for the resort and a related housing development in 2010, with detailed plans…

The Orange County Register 08/17/18 Disney Had No Choice but to Pull Back Plans for Anaheim Luxury Hotel By Jonathan Lansner https://www.ocregister.com/2018/08/17/disney-had-no-choice-but-to-pull-back-plans-for-anaheim-luxury-hotel/ Disneyland’s luxury hotel in Anaheim wasn’t a financial no-brainer to start with. So a last-minute pullback of a controversial city tax break would, at a minimum, obviously force Walt Disney Co. to recalibrate its plans. Alan Reay, who follows the hotel industry at Atlas Hospitality in Irvine, says the latest twist in Anaheim’s quest to add four-star hotels is no surprise. “I’d have been shocked if Disney did go forward for now,” Reay says. “They were thrown a huge curveball at the last minute.” As part of Anaheim’s desire to add a luxury-hotel component to its tourism district, the city and Disney agreed in 2016 that if a four-star hotel was built the company could for 20 years keep 70 percent of the hotel tax it would have otherwise paid. Last fall, Disney announced fresh plans for the 700-room hotel site, at the western end of Downtown Disney, that included shuttering several high-profile businesses including the ESPN Zone in the process. The construction tax break, also awarded to another hotel developer Wincombe, became a lightning road for critics…

CoStar 08/13/18 San Diego, Orange Counties Join Statewide Drop in First-Half Hotel Deals Mid-Year Market Update: Both Regions Saw Property Sales Decline Despite Still-Strong Performance, Development By Lou Hirsh https://product.costar.com/home/news/shared/194298 On the heels of a record year of hotel sales, Southern California’s San Diego and Orange counties experienced sharp declines in the number and value of hospitality property sales completed in the first half of 2018, according to a new report. The two counties reflect the plunging sales pattern that has happened across nearly the entire state of California so far this year, even amid continued strong operating performance and development activity for hotels in local markets. The report from brokerage and research firm Atlas Hospitality Group cautions that this isn’t a sign of an industry in freefall. Instead, California hotels have a tough act to follow in 2018, since 2017 was a record year for hotel property sales. “In many respects, the drop in transactions shows the market taking a breather from the heights set in 2017,” the Atlas report said. “It very much remains a seller’s market.” Atlas Hospitality Group showed California posting a 35 percent drop in the number of hotels changing hands in the first six…

Los Angeles Times 08/16/18 Disney Promised a Luxury Hotel and Anaheim Offered $267 Million in Tax Breaks — but a Growing Feud Has Plans on Hold By Hugo Martin http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-disneyland-hotel-subsidy-20180815-story.html   Walt Disney Co. has put a hold on plans to build a luxury hotel in Disneyland Resort’s shopping district, citing a feud with Anaheim officials over tax subsidies that the Burbank media giant was expecting to get from operating the hotel. The dispute centers on a $267-million tax break that the Anaheim City Council approved in 2016 for a 700-room hotel — the fourth hotel at the Disneyland Resort and the first high-end property built in 20 years. But since the tax break was approved, Disney has changed the location of the hotel. The city now says the subsidy applies only to the project as it was proposed at the previous address. Disney says the project may not be financially viable without the tax break. “You have given us no other choice than to put construction of the hotel on indefinite hold as the resort reevaluates the economic viability of future hotel development in Anaheim,” according to a letter dated Wednesday from David Ontko, chief counsel for Disneyland Resorts,…