Atlas in the news

Building Design + Construction 03/27/18 Shawmut Design and Construction’s Burgeoning L.A. Office Looks to Hospitality and Interiors for Future Growth By John Caulfield https://www.bdcnetwork.com/shawmut-design-and-construction%E2%80%99s-burgeoning-la-office-looks-hospitality-and-interiors-future-growth Last year, California opened 10,793 hotel rooms, a record for the state according to Atlas Hospitality Group. California has 859 hotels and 125,749 rooms in various stages of planning. In Los Angeles alone, where 4,309 hotel rooms opened last year, there are another 5,327 rooms under construction. Those projects include Soho Warehouse, a major renovation, designed by Killefer Flammang Architects, of a six-story 100-year building in L.A.’s Arts District; and the boutique Hoxton Hotel, a $30 million renovation, designed by GREC Architects, of a 10-story building along the city’s downtown Broadway corridor that dates back to 1925. Shawmut Design and Construction is handling the construction management for both of these hotels. The growth of Los Angeles’ hospitality sector has become a driving force behind the expansion of Shawmut’s L.A. office, designed by Gensler, which recently added 2,400 sf and is now 15,000 sf. Shawmut has been doing business in L.A. since 1995, and moved into its first office, on Wilshire Boulevard, in February 2013. It relocated to its current office, west side of the city, in…

San Francisco Business Times 03/23/18 Plans for 21-story SoMa Hotel Shrink by Nearly 200 Rooms By Katie Burke https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2018/03/23/downsized-hotel-sf-central-soma-plan-hospitality.html   The developer of a proposed 21-story SoMa hotel will cut seven stories and nearly 200 rooms from its original plan. Initially slated to include 480 rooms, Bethesda, Md.-based developer Englewood LLC has scaled back its plans for 350 Second St. after city planners told it to dial back the original design. The updated plans to transform the Central SoMa parking lot include 294 rooms, an underground parking garage and more than 3,000 square feet of restaurant and bar space. The original design drawn up by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill was caught in the crossfire between the city’s Central SoMa Plan and neighboring condo owners, who opposed its 200-foot height. The revised design is in line with their preference for no neighboring buildings to be higher than 130 feet. Englewood President Ken Finkelstein said the revised plans will result in a smaller project, but wouldn’t have any impact on which hotel flag it will choose to operate the property. “We’re not intending for this to be a Waldorf Astoria or a super luxury property like that,” he said. “This is also…

California Lodging Magazine March/April 2018 https://atlashospitality.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Cal-Lodging-California-Hotel-Development-Sets-Record-in-2017-201803.pdf

Orange County Business Journal 03/14/18 Laguna Beach Art Hotel Sells By Paul Hughes http://www.ocbj.com/news/2018/mar/14/laguna-beach-art-hotel-sells/   Art Hotel in Laguna Beach sold for $7.7 million. Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality Group brokers represented both buyer, Sutter County Hospitality Inc. in San Francisco, and seller, Emerald Bay Inn LLC in Laguna Beach. Emerald Bay has owned the hotel since buying it for $2.7 million 15 years ago. Principals of the company previously owned 14 West Hotel, also in Laguna Beach, which they sold in 2012. The purchase price works out to $276,000 per room for the 28-room property on Pacific Coast Highway, near Crescent Bay Beach.

HotelNewsNow 03/13/18 California Hotel Deals in 2018 Likely to Remain Robust It came as a bit of a surprise that 2017 was such a strong year for California hotel transactions, but experts watching the deals environment expect 2018 to be just as good, if not better. By Bryan Wroten http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/279664/California-hotel-deals-in-2018-likely-to-remain-robust   REPORT FROM CALIFORNIA—In 2017, California hotel transactions reached a dollar volume of $6.2 billion, the fourth-highest total since Atlas Hospitality Group has tracked hotel sales in the state. Based on 2017’s sales and pending sales heading into 2018, sources said they believe this year will be just as busy. 2016 was a good year for transactions, said Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group, but sales slowed by the end of the year, so the expectation for 2017 was sales would remain flat. That wasn’t the case, however, as the state recorded 369 individual transactions, including 32 trophy property sales of $50 million or more, beating New York’s 13 and Florida’s 10. California also had the most sales where the price per key came to at least $1 million of any state. “The pace has not slowed down,” he said. “If anything, those we’re tracking in escrow is up…

The Real Deal Lightstone Group’s 1,150-key Hotel Project Gets Preliminary Green Light By Natalie Hoberman https://therealdeal.com/la/2018/03/12/lightstone-groups-1150-key-hotel-project-gets-preliminary-green-light/   Lightstone Group has cleared another hurdle as it sets out to build “Fig + Pico,” a large mixed-use project slated across the street from the Los Angeles Convention Center. The L.A. Planning Commission approved the project, which now heads to the City Council for final approval, CoStar reported. The New York-based developer wants to build three hotel brands in two buildings. One 38-story tower, located at the corner of South Figueroa and West Pico boulevards, would include 775 rooms and 11,000 square feet of retail and parking. The other 27-story building, located at the corner of Pico and South Flower Street, would have 378 rooms and 2,145 square feet of retail. Gensler and landscape architect AHBE are designing the project. As part of the approval process, Lightstone will pay $1 million to the city for neighborhood efforts, such as graffiti removal. In November, Lightstone paid the city $9.6 million to acquire an 18,800-square-foot, city-owned parcel where it plans to build the complex. The City Council’s Economic Development Committee approved the sale, marking a major step for the project. The developer first filed plans…

Patch 02/16/18 Sale of Southern California Hotels Increase in 2017 By Hoa Quach https://patch.com/california/beverlyhills/sale-southern-california-hotels-increase-2017   SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA — Real estate transactions involving Southern California hotels increased in 2017. The Orange County Register reported that transactions worth $3.8 billion happened in the last year, an increase of 8 percent. Roughly 180 hotels in the region were sold last year, seven more than the previous year, the newspaper reported. Citing the Atlas Hospitality, the Register said “32 ‘trophy’ hotels, priced $50-million-plus, sold in California in 2017, more than any other state.” The most expensive sale in the region was The Jeremy in West Hollywood, which sold for $280 million. In San Diego, the Park Hyatt Aviara sold for $187 million, while the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort in Palm Desert sold for $160 million, the Register said. Southern California continues to be a hot spot for tourists with pricing for hotel rooms ranging from $94 to $545, according to the Ventura County Star. The newspaper said the priciest hotel room was found in Beverly Hills where the average room rate was $545 in 2017.

The Mercury News 02/23/18 Homes in a Hotel? That’s the Plan for This Downtown San Jose Development By George Avalos https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/23/downtown-san-jose-hotel-will/ SAN JOSE — The developers of a hotel planned for the Diridon train station area in downtown San Jose have filed plans with city officials that sketch the concept of high-rise lodging with guestrooms and permanent residences. San Jose officials previously indicated a hotel was planned for property purchased in January at 292 Stockton Ave., but new details have emerged about the development plan. The hotel would rise nine stories and have 254 rooms. And in a possible first for San Jose, the hotel also would contain 19 permanent residences, according to a preliminary proposal submitted to San Jose planners. An affiliate of Dallas-based Kade Development paid $4 million on Jan. 16 for a vacant lot at the corner of Stockton Avenue and West Julian Street, according to Santa Clara County property records. The San Jose Redevelopment Agency was the seller. “Right now, it’s not an obvious location for a hotel, but when you look at the plans for downtown San Jose, this hotel would be right in the heart of everything that’s going to happen,” said Dharmesh Patel,…

The Sun 02/24/18 Southern California to Get 75 More Hotels After 39 Opened Last Year By Jonathan Lansner https://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/2018/02/24/southern-california-to-get-75-more-hotels/ Southern California’s hotel building boom continues. Atlas Hospitality reports the five-county region saw 39 hotels open last year, bringing 7,331 more rooms to Southern California. That’s up from 22 new properties with 3,955 rooms in 2016. And the construction surge won’t stop soon: 75 hotels with 12,237 rooms are under construction in the region. Yes, there are more hotels under construction than the slew that opened in the past two years across the region. Last year, the five-county region saw 39 hotels open with 7,331 rooms vs. 22 new properties with 3,955 rooms in 2016. Hotel operators are rushing to create more places for visitors to sleep to catch one of the hottest turnaround stories of the recovery from the Great Recession. Here’s how construction breaks down by county … Los Angeles County: 23 new hotels with 4,309 rooms vs. eight openings with 1,098 rooms in 2016. Biggest? 889‐room InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown. Under construction: 32 hotels with 5,327 rooms. San Diego County: Four new hotels with 826 rooms vs. six hotels with 1,017 rooms in 2016. Biggest? 317‐room Pendry San…

The Orange County Register 02/25/18 Southern California Hotel Rooms Get Pricier: for Tourists and Investors By Jonathan Lansner https://www.ocregister.com/2018/02/25/southern-california-hotel-rooms-get-pricier-for-tourists-and-investors/   The Southern California hotel industry’s upswing continues to surprise. The basic business has enjoyed a remarkable turnabout from the Great Recession that’s attracted fresh money for construction and purchases. The industry’s ongoing surge has made at least one expert second-guess himself. “It’s been an incredible run-up the past seven years. I thought ’17 would be the start of a lull … and I was wrong,” says hotel analyst Alan Reay at Atlas Hospitality Group. “What I know is that this run-up has got less time to run after six or seven years of it.” Let’s note that you’re seeing a few more “vacancy” signs at Southern California hotels, much of that due to the wave of hotel construction. And, yes, there’s a curious slowdown in the industry’s hiring pace — remember, that’s still growth mode. But room rates — and profitability — continue to rise at most Southern California hotels. That keeps hotel operators opening more places for visitors to sleep while buyers eye that flood of visitors — and are still willing to acquire existing hotels. Good numbers According…

The Orange County Register 02/23/18 $3.8 Billion Worth of Southern California Hotels Sold in 2017 By Jonathan Lansner https://www.ocregister.com/2018/02/23/southern-californian-hotels-sales-worth-3-8-billion-in-2017/ Southern California hotels continue to be hot properties with buyers eyeing a flood of visitors paying rising nightly rates and leaving only a modest number of empty rooms. Atlas Hospitality reports 180 Southern California hotels were sold in 2017 — seven more deals that 2016 and including 17,051 rooms — up 8 percent in a year. And buyers paid up, spending $3.8 billion to acquire Southern California hotels last year, a 22 percent jump above 2016’s deals. The median hotel value, per room, rose 8 percent. The Atlas report attributes the buying binge to continued investor interest in hotels statewide — especially from the Asia/Pacific region and investors moving out of other commercial real estate niches. Atlas noted that 32 “trophy” hotels, priced $50-million-plus, sold in California in 2017, more than any other state. Prices and sales volumes rose in most parts of Southern California. Riverside County was a hotspot with a record 31 hotels sold, up nine from 2016 — although per-room values decreased 7 percent. Biggest deal? $160 million for the 884-room JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort in Palm…

The Orange County Register 02/23/18 Chinese Government Now Controls Local Resorts Ritz-Carlton, Montage, Loews Santa Monica By Jonathan Lansner https://www.ocregister.com/2018/02/23/chinese-government-now-controls-ritz-carlton-montage-loews-santa-monica/ The Chinese government has seized control of an insurance company that owns a collection of U.S. luxury hotels including Montage Laguna Beach in Laguna Beach, Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel in Dana Point and Loews Santa Monica. China’s government on Friday, Feb. 23, announced the takeover of Anbang Insurance Group and said its company’s founder Wu Xiaohui would be prosecuted for financial crimes. Anbang was part of a group of fast-growing Chinese companies making high-profile real estate investments in recent years. China’s regulatory action confirms industry suspicions that Anbang’s bets may have been too risky. Bloomberg News reported China’s insurance regulator says it plans to run Anbang and its $315 billion in assets for at least one year and the insurer’s operations remain “stable” and unspecified asset disposals are planned. Anbang acquired its three Southern California luxury resorts in 2016 with its purchase of 15 of 16 hotels owned by Strategic Hotels & Resorts of Chicago. The original deal included the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, but that resort was taken out of the acquisition due to U.S. security concerns. Anbang’s…