Atlas in the news

HotelNewsNow 12/13/17 Hotels Mostly Unscathed by Latest California Wildfires The ongoing wildfires in Southern California are some of the worst in the state’s history, but few hotels are closing because of the fires; however, hoteliers are concerned about the potential loss of business from canceled and postponed bookings. http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/259583/Hotels-mostly-unscathed-by-latest-California-wildfires REPORT FROM THE U.S.—Another round of wildfires, this time in Southern California, has displaced thousands of people and burned acres of land, destroying hundreds of buildings. One of the wildfires, the Thomas fire, is said to be the fifth worst in the state’s history of wildfires. But unlike the wildfires in the Napa Valley and Sonoma areas of the state just months ago, so far this latest round seems to have left most hotels in the region relatively unscathed. Bobbie Singh-Allen, EVP of the California Lodging Industry Association, said fires in the Santa Barbara and Ventura areas are not fully contained yet, and some hotels there have been evacuated. She’s not aware of any hotels that have sustained damage from the fires, even in the evacuation areas, she said. “The main concern is the air quality,” she said, as some hotel employees working close to areas with active fires are wearing…

The Mercury News 12/06/17 San Jose Hotel Purchase Suggests Hot Silicon Valley Lodging Market By George Avalos http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/12/05/san-jose-hotel-purchase-suggests-hot-silicon-valley-lodging-market/ SAN JOSE — A big Holiday Inn north of downtown San Jose has been bought by a New York-based group in a nearly $62 million deal that points to a healthy hotel market in Silicon Valley. “This is a very strong hotel market right now,” said Alan Reay, president of Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality Group, which tracks the California lodging market. SJ 1st Street Hotel — a group controlled by White Plains, N.Y.-based real estate investment firm True North Management — paid $61.75 million in cash on Dec. 4, county records show. The 354-room hotel is located at 1350 N. First St., near East Gish Road. True North Management has bought, financed or made equity investments in “office, retail, hospitality, multifamily and other property types.” Its investments have a combined transaction value of $965 million, according to the company’s website. True North couldn’t be reached for comment on Tuesday. The Holiday Inn’s seller was Aju Hotel San Jose, a South Korea-based conglomerate that also paid $64 million in June for the iconic downtown Westin San Jose, also known as the Sainte Claire Hotel….

Los Angeles Business Journal 12/01/17 Hotel Heat Makes Old Buildings Cool By Caroline Anderson http://labusinessjournal.com/news/2017/dec/01/hotel-heat-makes-old-buildings-cool/ Developers are fashioning historic old buildings into new hotels to accommodate the record numbers of visitors flocking to Los Angeles these days. It’s a strategy that comes with challenges and potential benefits, including tax credits in some cases and the chance at prime locations. A passion for a design challenge and history drove real estate investor and developer Blvd Hospitality to renovate the Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles in 2014, said Jon Blanchard, founder and chief executive of the firm. Blvd Hospitality undertook the project as part-owner of the property on the 1000 block of S. Broadway, one the edge of the Fashion District. “There’s something really special and unique to be able to take a historic icon and bring it back to life,” said Blanchard. The firm converted the 13-story structure, which was built as a United Artists movie studio and theater in 1927, into a 182-room hotel and theater. Blanchard declined to share the price of the Ace’s overhaul, but Blvd and the hotel’s majority owner, Weston, Conn.-based Greenfield Partners, sold it for $103 million the year after the renovation. That amounted to…

Orange County Business Journal 11/06/17 $50M in Hotel Buys Hint at Past, Present HOSPITALITY: Sales at Dyer & 55 Are Midscale Trend Marker By Paul Hughes http://www.ocbj.com/news/2017/nov/06/50m-hotel-buys-hint-past-present   George Santayana said those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it, but sometimes that’s not so bad. Two recent Santa Ana hotel sales totaling $50 million point to the power of even nondescript local legacy submarkets, a hospitality trend-line that emerges about every 10 years, and the history of hotels and Orange County land development. CoStar Group Inc. records show Hampton Inn & Suites Santa Ana/Orange County Airport sold for $21 million in September and Holiday Inn Santa Ana-Orange County Airport sold for $28.5 million in August. Hampton’s 121 rooms went for $162,000 per key. It last sold in March 2013 for $16.5 million. Holiday Inn’s 176 rooms sold for $173,000 apiece. It last sold in June 2002 for $12.1 million. They’re part of seven properties off the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway at Dyer Road—the towering and terraced 300-room Embassy Suites by Hilton being the most visible—as cars whiz by on the way to John Wayne Airport, downtown Irvine, OC beaches or Disneyland Resort. Big names involved here…

San Francisco Business Times 10/24/17 From One Chairman of the Board to Another, Ellison Buys Tahoe Resort Once Owned by Sinatra By Marlize van Romburgh https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2017/10/24/larry-ellison-cal-neva-tahoe-resort-sinatra-hotels.html   Bay Area billionaire Larry Ellison is getting ready to buy a historic but rundown Lake Tahoe resort once owned by Frank Sinatra, the Sacramento Bee reports. The founder and chairman of Oracle Corp. will pay $35.8 million to buy the Cal Neva Resort & Casino out of bankruptcy, according to the Bee. He was the only bidder for the aging hotel and casino, which has gone through a series of ownership changes since its star-studded Sinatra days. Seller Criswell-Radovan LLC closed the resort in September 2013 for renovations but declared bankruptcy last year. The property has sat vacant and in disrepair for the last four years. It’s not Ellison’s first move into the hospitality business: He bought the Hawaiian island of Lanai in 2012 for an estimated $500 million, including the island’s two resorts developed by Dole Pineapple billionaire David Murdock. He also owns the 246-acre Porcupine Creek estate in the California desert, a property he bought for some $43 million in 2010, as well as other hotels and luxury estates around Tahoe…

The Orange County Register 10/07/17 Southern California Still a Growing Tourist Area By Jonathan Lansner http://www.ocregister.com/2017/10/06/southern-california-still-a-growing-tourist-trap   Southern California’s tourism trade looks to be enjoying a relatively solid 2017. Industry stats show busy local airports, hotels a bit challenged by an increase of rooms to fill, and leisure and hospitality bosses continue to hire. Tourism’s days of hot expansion out of the recession may be over. Yet the year’s modest progress isn’t shabby considering the numerous challenges from wobbly economic prospects limiting business travel to international tensions trimming foreign visits to the anticipation of Disneyland’s upcoming Star Wars attraction, which may delay some trips. Here’s a look at three key yardsticks of the region’s tourism trade … Busy skies Why does your favorite local airport seem so crowded? Don’t blame security checks as it’s been a busy year so far for Southern California airports. According to data from the six major airports, 62.9 million passengers went through the area’s terminals in 2017’s first seven months, up 2.8 million in a year or a gain of 4.7 percent. Much of that regional passenger gain occurred at giant Los Angeles International. Its 37.1 million passengers were up 1.2 million year to date,…

Los Angeles Business Journal 09/29/17 Labor Works Against Hotel? HOSPITALITY: Westin sale may reflect union pull in LB. By Caroline Anderson http://labusinessjournal.com/news/2017/sep/29/labor-works-against-hotel-hospitality/   The recent deal for a Long Beach hotel below its last sale price could be a sign of tangible effects that labor action is having on the Long Beach hotel market, analysts said. The $88.1 million deal for the Westin Long Beach, one of the city’s four major convention center hotels, follows efforts in recent years to unionize workers and control operations in the increasingly important hospitality industry in this waterfront community. The city’s political climate has encouraged labor advocates, whose tactics have impacted the Westin and other businesses, said Randy Gordon, chief executive of the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. “They found a stronghold in Long Beach because not every city has pro-union council members,” Gordon said. “(There were) marches at 6 a.m. banging drums with signs saying, ‘Don’t stay here.’ We lost a lot of conventions along the way. They’ve upset people.” The 469-room Westin was sold in August for $88.4 million, about $300,000 less than what it went for more than a decade ago, according to CoStar. The lower price came in spite…

Los Angeles Business Journal 07/28/17 New Financial District Hotels Drive State Record Three properties add 1,465 rooms, nearly one-third of six-month total. By Jerry Sullivan http://labusinessjournal.com/news/2017/jul/28/wilshire-grand-hotels-drive-state-record/ Downtown’s Financial District accounted for nearly one-third of the number of hotel rooms added to the industry’s inventory statewide in the first half of the year, thanks to a pair of high-profile entries and the arrival of a traditional boutique. The InterContinental Hotel led all projects in the state when its 889 rooms debuted with the opening last month of the Wilshire Grand Center. The hotel partially occupies the 73-story tower, the tallest building west of the Mississippi River, at Wilshire Boulevard and Figueroa Street. The Hotel Indigo added 350 rooms a few blocks away on Ninth and Francisco streets, and the boutique Freehand Los Angeles accounted for 226 rooms at Eighth and Olive streets. Those three combined for 1,465 new rooms and drove a statewide record of 4,730 for the first half of 2017, according to Alan Reay, president of Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality Group, which provided the data in its recent midyear survey. Reay said the biggest batch of new hotel rooms over a six-month period prior to this year’s burst was 2,502…

Los Angeles Business Journal 07/28/17 Modular Wall Maker Puts Together Fund Emagispace raises $4.2 million to help product grow beyond use on film, television productions. By Shwanika Narayan http://labusinessjournal.com/news/2017/jul/28/modular-wall-maker-fund-manufacturing/ Downtown-based Emagispace Inc. has raised $4.2 million in a Series A funding round intended to grow its product line of modular walls that can be assembled into various interior structures. Its emagiblock is a singular interlocking unit that comes in different sizes for wall and space customization that the company initially targeted for use on film and television sets and is now expanding into uses such as retail displays and trade-show booths. The mid-July round was led by Santa Monica-based investment firm Alpha Edison. Other participants included New York technology fund Circle Ventures; Jeremy Zimmer, chief executive of Beverly Hills’ United Talent Agency; and New York-based real estate private equity firm 54 Madison, among others. Privately held Emagispace was co-founded in 2015 by brothers Noel, 49, and Clark Maxam, 55. The younger Maxam is an Emmy Award-winning producer, director and writer who’s worked in daytime television for more than 20 years, including on shows such as “Days of Our Lives” and “The Young and the Restless.” He said he started toying…

The Orange County Register 10/03/17 Southern California Hotels Find Filling Rooms Tricky By Jonathan Lansner http://www.ocregister.com/2017/10/03/southern-california-hotels-find-filling-rooms-tricky/   Is the local hotel industry too eager to expand? Southern California hotels appeared to be struggling with a growing supply of empty rooms this summer. In August, for example, all five local markets tracked by CBRE Hotels had dips in occupancy rates vs. a year ago, while room rates fell in Los Angeles and Orange County compared with 2016. Local hotel owners have added competition this year amid an industry building surge. Additionally, hotels may be paying a price for increasing room rates and making visitors rethink their lodging plans. Year to date, all five Southern California markets had higher average room rates vs. the first eight months of 2016 but only two markets — Palm Springs and San Diego — filled a higher share of rooms in 2017. Here’s how local markets have fared, year-to-date through August vs. 2016’s results for the same period for average room rates and occupancy, according to CBRE Hotels data … Los Angeles: Averaged $211 a night, up $1 in a year; 84 percent full vs. 85.4 percent a year ago. Orange County: $191 — up $5;…

HotelNewsNow 09/27/17 Bump in California Hotel Sales Shows Strength of Market By Bryan Wroten http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/241548/Bump-in-California-hotel-sales-shows-strength-of-market   REPORT FROM THE U.S.—California remains an active hotel investment market in 2017, and data from Jones Lang LaSalle shows more hotel investment in the state during the first eight months of the year than there was during the same period in 2016. The state saw $2.9 billion in hotel trading through August, said JLL EVP James Stockdale, while for the same period in 2016, that number was just under $2 billion. “That proves there’s still a number of folks trying to buy hotels and who still see them as a good investment,” he said. That statement seems to be further justified by the results of Atlas Hospitality Group’s 2017 Midyear California Hotel Sales Survey, which showed the state reported a new midyear record in hotel sales, as the number of transactions reached 206, exceeding the 187 sales closed in the first half of 2014. Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group, said his company’s survey had some surprising results. “We were all looking at the market taking a breather,” he said. “Interest rates were going up; people were perhaps pulling back and taking a…

Los Angeles Times 09/24/17 Is Disney Paying Its Share in Anaheim? The money battle outside the Happiest Place on Earth By Daniel Miller http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-fi-disney-anaheim-deals   A few hours after the gates swing open at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, the cars are still pouring into the massive 10,241-space parking garage. They zoom into the six-story concrete structure, carloads of costumed kids, foreign tourists and graying baby boomers sporting Mickey Mouse ears, “Frozen” dresses and “Star Wars” backpacks… …Last year, Disney sought a tax rebate for a proposed hotel at its resort. Under a program started in 2015 to encourage the development of four-diamond properties, Anaheim offered hoteliers a 70% refund on the 15% bed tax collected from guests for 20 years. Without the incentive, Disney said it would not build the 700-room hotel, The Times reported last year. Still, Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group, a real estate firm that specializes in hotels, says it would be hard for Disney “to argue that they wouldn’t build that hotel without subsidies,” given the company’s financial position and the strong economy. A city-commissioned study said that the new Disney hotel would create 5,050 construction jobs during the course of the project…