Atlas in the news

The Mercury News 07/26/17 San Jose Hotels Moving Ahead, Revived with New Financing By George Avalos http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/07/26/san-jose-hotels-moving-ahead-revived-with-new-financing-google-cisco   SAN JOSE — Developers are pushing ahead in north San Jose with an unusual lodging concept: a complex with two hotel brands that would share a common lobby. Together, the two hotels would bring 261 new lodging rooms to a section of north San Jose that is a short distance from the headquarters of some of Silicon Valley’s biggest tech companies, including Google, as well as the Levi Stadium sports complex and California’s Great America amusement park. The development would consist of a 147-room Residence Inn and a 114-room Fairfield Inn & Suites, both operating under the Marriott brand. What’s unusual about this development is the two hotels would share a lobby and other common areas. Saratoga-based InfiniPower Hospitality Group is developing the complex. Each hotel would each be four stories high. “This would be a new concept,” said Devang Shah, founder and principal executive with InfiniPower Hospitality. “Marriott and some other hotel chains are promoting this co-branding approach. You will have two hotels in one building. They would share the public spaces, the front desk, the food and beverage areas and…

Bisnow 07/24/17 California Experiences Hotel Boom in First Half of 2017 By Karen Jordan https://www.bisnow.com/orange-county/news/construction-development/la-76859   California has seen a hotel boom so far this year. The number of new hotels that opened statewide in the first half of the year increased 53%. There were also 15% more hotels in development and 6% more under construction compared to the first half of last year, according to a study by the Atlas Hospitality Group. A record number of hotel rooms opened in the first six months of the year. Twenty-six hotels, with 4,730 rooms, opened in the first half of 2017 compared to 17 hotels in the same period of 2016. Three hotels with 461 rooms opened in Orange County, the Orange County Register reports. The hotel supply in Los Angeles had little change, but four of the five biggest hotels to open in California in the first half of the year were in the city, TravelWeekly reports. Atlas President Alan Reay said many hotels are being built now because the price of renovating older hotels is high, making it more attractive to build a new hotel, and construction financing and loans are readily available and there have been six years…

San Diego Business Journal 07/13/17 New San Diego Hotel Opens, With Plenty More on the Way By Lou Hirsh http://sdbj.com/news/2017/jul/13/new-san-diego-hotel-opens-plenty-more-way   San Diego — San Diego’s newest hotel is a 245-room Homewood Suites by Hilton, which recently opened at 2201 Hotel Circle South in Mission Valley and is managed by Evolution Hospitality of San Clemente. The property is owned by Newport Beach-based T2 Hospitality, led by founder and CEO Mike Patel, which has developed several hotels in the local market including the dual-branded Hilton campus that opened last year at the former Top’s Nightclub/Fat City site near Little Italy. The new venue arrived as Atlas Hospitality Group recently reported that San Diego County saw a 96 percent increase from a year ago in the number of hotel rooms under construction in the first half of 2017. In the brokerage and consulting firm’s mid-year California hotel development survey, Atlas noted that the local region had 10 hotels with 1,880 rooms under construction at the year’s mid-point, and another 76 hotels with 15,179 rooms in various planning stages. San Diego County saw the opening of two hotels with a total of 433 rooms in the first half, including the 317-room Pendry San…

The Orange County Register 07/18/17 Record Number of California Hotel Rooms Open in First Half of 2017 By Hannah Madans   Record number of California hotel rooms open in first half of 2017 The number of new hotels that opened in California increased 53 percent in the first half of 2017 and there were 15 percent more hotels in development and 6 percent more under construction vs. the same period in 2016, according to an Atlas Hospitality Group study. “This is a record number of hotel rooms that have opened in the first six months of the year,” said Alan Reay, president of Irvine-based Atlas. Twenty-six hotels, with 4,730 rooms, opened in the first half of 2017 vs. 17 hotels in the same period of 2016. Reay said many hotels are being built now because the price of buying and renovating older hotels is high, that it is more attractive to build a new hotel, construction financing and loans are readily available and there have been six years of revenue increases. In Orange County three hotels with 461 rooms opened during the first half of the year. They were: AC Hotel Irvine: The 176-room hotel in the Park Place development…

Travel Weekly 07/12/17 2017 a Big Year for California Hotel Openings By Danny King http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Hotel-News/2017-a-big-year-for-California-hotel-openings   California has shattered its record for hotel rooms opened during the first half of a year. Developers opened 26 hotels totaling 4,730 rooms from January to June, a 53% increase for hotels and a 65% surge for rooms from a year earlier, according to hotel real estate broker Atlas Hospitality Group. The previous record for new rooms was 2,502 with the 33 hotels that opened during the first half of 2008. Four of the state’s five largest new hotels are in Los Angeles, including the 889-room InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown and the 350-room Hotel Indigo. The 317-room Pendry San Diego is the state’s third-largest new hotel. Hotel developers have been looking to meet surging demand in Southern California. Last year, revenue per available room (RevPAR) in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area rose 11%, the fastest demand-growth rate out of the largest 25 U.S. hotel markets, according to data research firm STR. Meanwhile, Los Angeles’ hotel supply was little-changed last year after inching up 0.5% in 2015. As for the entire state, there were 18,271 rooms under construction as of June 30, up 6% from…

Orange County Business Journal 07/10/17 Hotel Construction Down; Planning Up By Paul Hughes https://www.ocbj.com/news/2017/jul/10/hotel-construction-down-planning   The number of hotels and rooms under construction in Orange County as of the end of June declined year-over-year but the number of hotels and rooms in planning is up. OC has eight hotels with about 1,200 rooms under construction at the year’s midpoint; at the end of June 2016 there were 12 hotels with about 2,100 rooms under construction—declines of 50% and 43%, respectively. The county has 50 hotels and 10,500 rooms in planning—up 47% and 55%, respectively. The largest hotel under construction here is Marriott Irvine Spectrum, a project of R.D. Olson Development in Newport Beach. The mid-year development numbers are from consultant and broker Atlas Hospitality Group in Irvine. “The general picture is that development—planning [plus] construction—is up in every area of California,” said Alan Reay, Atlas president. Hotel sales prices have risen so much in “the sixth year of a strong hotel market,” he said, “it’s more attractive to build.” If the price of a 30-year-old hotel is the same as the cost of building a new one, Reay said, you make it new. Atlas’ report said “favorable construction financing” is…

Los Angeles Times 07/08/17 With Retractable Pool and Tao Restaurant, Flashy Dream Hotel Anchors New Hollywood Revival By Roger Vincent http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-dream-hotel-hollywood-20170708-story.html   From top to bottom, the futuristic-looking Dream Hotel tries hard to live up to its name. The centerpiece of a $110-million hospitality complex, it features a front lobby and bar that will open entirely onto the street — providing a new way to enjoy an indoor-outdoor experience in Southern California… …The development is part of an overall hotel construction surge in the state, according to consulting firm Atlas Hospitality Group. There were 130 hotels with a combined 18,271 rooms under construction at the end of June, a 17% increase over the same period last year, Atlas said. Los Angeles County leads the way with 4,585 rooms. But for all the demand, getting the Dream Hotel to market wasn’t easy. The developers secured city approvals in 2008, but then the financial crisis hit…

The San Diego Union-Tribune 07/05/17 Hotel del Coronado Is Going to Become a Hilton By Lori Weisberg http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/tourism/sd-fi-hoteldel-hilton-20170705-story.html   The storied Hotel del Coronado will soon become a Hilton hotel, joining the huge hospitality company’s smaller Curio Collection of more unique, upscale properties around the world. But don’t expect to see a large Hilton marquee suddenly adorn the facade of the 129-year-old, red-roofed Victorian building. While Hilton’s physical presence will be understated, the company’s marketing muscle and its 64 million honors program members will significantly broaden the reach of a property that already is widely known… …The move was especially surprising to longtime broker and hotel analyst Alan Reay of Orange County-based Atlas Hospitality Group. “I’ve never seen anything like that before, where you have a restriction on who you can sell a hotel to,” said Reay, who values the hotel at $800 million to $1 billion. “It is hard to find who the real ownership is behind Anbang, and there was a concern that high-level government officials had a stake in the company.” Just last month, Anbang announced that its chairman, Wu Xiaohui, was stepping aside temporarily for “personal reasons.” The announcement came not long after it was reported…

Los Angeles Times 06/28/17 Brand-new Sunset Strip Apartments to Become Deluxe Extended-stay Hotel By Roger Vincent http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-sunset-strip-sale-20170627-story.html   A just-completed apartment complex on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood has been sold to a Pennsylvania developer that plans to convert the property into a luxury extended-stay hotel. The 190 apartments at 8500 Sunset Blvd. are part of a more than $300-million development covering two blocks on the Strip that is expected to also include a separate trendy hotel called “1,” along with stores and restaurants. Korman Communities, which operates the upmarket AKA line of extended-stay hotels, bought 8500 Sunset from Los Angeles developer CIM Group. The Sunset Strip complex will be the second in the area for Korman, which already operates an 88-unit AKA on Crescent Drive in Beverly Hills that advertises room service from the legendary Spago restaurant among its amenities. Rates have not yet been announced for the West Hollywood AKA but they start at around $4,500 a week at the Beverly Hills lodging. Deluxe residential inns such as AKA are a small but growing niche in the increasingly fragmented hospitality business, said consultant Alan Reay of Atlas Hospitality Group. The current competition for AKA around Beverly Hills…

The Mercury News 06/29/17 Korean Firm Pays $64 Million for San Jose’s Iconic Sainte Claire Hotel By George Avalos http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/06/29/korean-firm-pays-64-million-for-san-joses-iconic-sainte-claire-hotel   SAN JOSE — A Korean resorts operator has scooped up the Westin San Jose — more commonly known as the Sainte Claire hotel — in downtown San Jose, paying $64 million for the iconic property, an indication of interest by foreign investors in the robust Silicon Valley economy. Aju Hotel Silicon Valley, an entity controlled by Aju Hotels and Resorts, bought the historic Westin San Jose on June 15, according to Santa Clara County property records. Aju Hotels is a developer and operator of hotels in South Korea and the Bay Area, according to the Aju website. “This investment shows that Silicon Valley is a hot market for hotels right now,” said Alan Reay, president of Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality Group, which tracks the California lodging market. The purchase comes on the heels of other recent hotel acquisitions and construction of new lodging properties in San Jose. “There is no question that San Jose is one of the best hotel markets in California in terms of being desired by buyers,” Reay said. “San Jose is in the top three, along…

Los Angeles Times 06/28/17 Santa Monica Wants to Know Who Owns Its Popular Beachfront Hotels By Hugo Martin http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-santa-monica-anbang-20170628-story.html   The Waldorf Astoria New York, once a renowned symbol of luxury on Park Avenue, is being converted to luxury condominiums under its new owners, Chinese insurance giant Anbang Insurance Group. Labor union leaders and city officials in Santa Monica are now worried that the same fate could befall the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, a beachfront property purchased last year by the same Chinese firm. In a unanimous vote, the Santa Monica City Council instructed its lawyers early Wednesday morning to draft legislation that would force hotels in the city to disclose their ownership and look into ways to keep hotels from being converted to other uses. The purpose is to protect hotel jobs and tax revenue from the beachfront community’s booming hospitality industry. “This is local and immediate,” said Councilman Kevin McKeown, who proposed the motion with the support of Unite Here local 11, which represents 1,200 hotel workers in Santa Monica, including 250 at the Loews hotel. The purchase of the Loews reflects a trend among Chinese businesses and wealthy investors who have been trying to diversify their…

The San Diego Union-Tribune 07/06/17 California’s Hotel Building Boom Shows No Signs of Slowing By Lori Weisberg http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/tourism/sd-fi-hotel-development-20170706-story.html   Developers’ love affair with new hotels is not likely to flame out soon, considering the more than 18,000 rooms under construction up and down the state so far this year, with tens of thousands more in various stages of planning. In all, 130 hotels in California, accounting for 18,271 rooms, were under construction as of the end of June, a 17 percent increase over the same period in 2016, according to a mid-year development report prepared by the Orange County hotel brokerage firm, Atlas Hospitality Group. Los Angeles County easily led the way, with its 4,585 hotel rooms accounting for roughly one quarter of all hotel rooms being built in the state. In addition to the ongoing construction there has been a flurry of hotel openings this year — 26 in all for a total of 4,730 rooms, which was a 63 percent increase over the first half of 2016. In San Diego County, there were just two hotels that debuted this year — the 317-room Pendry Hotel in downtown San Diego, which is affiliated with the upscale Montage brand, and…