Atlas in the news

RENTV Jan 28 2016 OC Hotel Market

Laguna Beach Independent 03/17/16 Montage Sold a Third Time? By Andrea Adelson https://www.lagunabeachindy.com/montage-sold-third-time/ In the ‘80s, Japanese investors snapped up trophy properties like Rockefeller Center in New York and Arco Towers in Los Angeles. Now, a new wave of mergers flows from China. The latest stems from Anbang Insurance Group, intent on assembling a portfolio of trophy hotel properties worldwide, including the company controlling Montage Laguna Beach. Anbang is negotiating with Blackstone Group’s Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Montage Laguna Beach managing director Rick Riess confirmed this week. “No transaction has been finalized nor do we have additional information to share at this time,” he said in a statement. The Montage will continue to be operated by Montage Hotels & Resorts under an already-existing long-term management contract, Reiss said. “Our associates and guests will continue to enjoy business as usual going forward under the current leadership team.” If the deal goes through, Anbang becomes the third owner of the ocean-front property in little more than a year. Strategic Hotels & Resorts purchased Montage in 2015 for $360 million, but before the year was out sold itself to the New York private equity firm. Blackstone acquired the Montage and 16 other properties…

Los Angeles Times 03/15/16 Group Led by Chinese Firm Anbang Bids $12.8 Billion for Starwood Hotels James F. Peltz & Julie Makinen http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-anbang-blackstone-20160315-story.html   Nearly 30 years after cash-rich Japanese companies began snapping up prime U.S. real estate, Chinese companies are following suit at a record pace as they search for solid international investments to make up for slowing growth at home. The latest is Anbang Insurance Group Co., a once-obscure Chinese insurer that’s taking a fast, multibillion-dollar ride up to the penthouse of the American hotel industry, aided perhaps by its ties with Chinese political leaders. Formed only 12 years ago, Anbang is aggressively trying to buy luxury U.S. hotel properties from Southern California to New York in $21 billion worth of potential deals. On Monday, Anbang led a group making an unsolicited $12.8-billion offer for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., which owns the Westin and Sheraton brands, among others. That came only days after Anbang reportedly agreed to buy Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc., whose posh properties include the Hotel del Coronado near San Diego, from the private equity firm Blackstone Group for $6.5 billion. Anbang in late 2014 also bought the famed Waldorf Astoria hotel on…

Silicon Valley Business Journal 03/10/16 Milpitas Selling Land to Hotel Developer; Expert Calls It a Great Site but Pricey Deal http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2016/03/10/milpitas-selling-land-to-hotel-developer-expert.html   A Utah-based hospitality group is poised to pick up a 3.3-acre site in Milpitas that’s in the thick of corporate campuses and highly-trafficked roads, and it has Gov. Jerry Brown to thank for it. Lodging Dynamics is slated to buy the land, currently a vacant parcel, from Milpitas’s Successor Agency to the Redevelopment Agency, which was set up to dispose of the assets of the city’s former Redevelopment Agency. Cities all over the state have been selling off their agencies’ holdings following Brown’s 2011 order that wound down redevelopment. The Milpitas City Council next Tuesday is expected to sign off on the $7 million sale. The site is located at the intersection of East Tasman Drive and Barber Lane, just off Interstate 880 at the Tasman Drive/Great Mall exit. It’s adjacent to a VTA parking lot for the Milpitas Station. Assistant City Manager Emma Karlen told me that the land has long been envisioned for a hotel, and represents the most significant parcel from a development perspective among the five sites that the Successor Agency is selling off….

The Orange County Register 03/01/16 Huntington Beach Hilton to Undergo $140 Million Expansion, Adding New Tower By Hannah Madans http://www.ocregister.com/articles/beach-706366-resort-waterfront.html   The Waterfront Beach Resort, a Hilton property in Huntington Beach, has completed a $140 million financing deal to add a suites-only tower. Irvine-based Robert Mayer Corp. owns the 290-room resort. The changes will include a nine-story, 152 room all-suites resort tower, a restaurant, ocean-view lounge, pool deck and event lawn on an adjacent 3.5-acre parcel south of the existing hotel. The project lender is Newport Beach-based Pacific Life Insurance Co. Davis Reed Construction Inc. will be the builder. Existing public spaces also will undergo a makeover. The pool and pool deck will be rebuilt and a grab-and-go market will be added. The project is expected to take about 18 months to complete. “The expansion of The Waterfront Beach Resort will enable us to enhance our services and accommodations, and expand our contribution to tourism in Surf City USA, Huntington Beach, California,” said Robert L. Mayer, Jr., Chairman of The Mayer Corporation, in a statement. The Waterfront Beach Resort is located at 21100 Pacific Coast Highway, just across the street from the Paséa Hotel & Spa, a much anticipated high-end…

The San Diego Union-Tribune 02/29/16 Hotel Sales Flat, Values Way Up By Lori Weisberg http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/feb/29/hotel-sales-down-california-values-rising/   The pace of hotel acquisitions last year may have slowed statewide, but the prices investors were willing to pay for established properties rose significantly, contributing to a record $9.5 billion in sales in California. The rising value of lodging real estate was especially evident in Southern California, which saw the number of hotel transactions drop by 9 percent compared to 2014 at the same time that the sales volume — $5.4 billion — soared by 69 percent, reported Atlas Hospitality Group, an Orange County-based brokerage that tracks hotel transactions throughout California…    

Bisnow 02/29/16 Development in Platinum Triangle Urbanizing Anaheim’s Core By Patricia Kirk https://www.bisnow.com/orange-county/news/mixed-use/development-in-platinum-triangle-urbanizing-anaheims-core-56641   The Development Panel at Bisnow’s recent Orange County State of the Market event focused on projects in Anaheim, which rezoned an 820-acre industrial district in 2004 to what is now known as the Platinum Triangle to allow high-rise residential and mixed-use development. Developers are expected to pour $1.2B into projects here over the next decade, including a $500M mixed-used development adjacent to the stadium by China-based LT Global Investment, a subsidiary of Beijing developer Lerthai Commercial Real Estate Group. At build-out, this dense district is expected to have 28,000 residents, 19,000 apartments and condos, 14M SF of office space, and 4.7M SF of retail and hotel space. Our panel moderator, locally based Place Works chair/president Randy Jackson (pictured), who created Anaheim’s master plan, opened the discussion by asking national multifamily developer JPI/TDI Cos VP Patrick Pine why his company is developing in Anaheim and what he thinks about OC’s multifamily market going forward. The panel included Alan Reay, Randy Jefferson, Patrick Pine and Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait. Unemployment in OC is about 4%, and the Platinum Triangle is a strategic location with dynamic rent growth due…

Orange County Business Journal 02/25/16 Hotel Sales Dollars Doubled in 2015 By Paul Hughes http://www.ocbj.com/news/2016/feb/25/hotel-sales-dollars-doubled-2015/   Fewer hotels sold for more money last year in Orange County. Twenty-seven hotels sold in 2015—down by three properties from 2014—but they traded hands for $1.75 billion—up 115% from the previous year’s $816 million, according to numbers from Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality Group. Atlas said 2016 sales volume will fall about 25% from 2015 numbers as larger buyers pull back from the market and more hotels are available for purchase. The consultant and broker said financing would increase by up to 1 percentage point and it expects the median price per room to decline by up to 10%. The median price per room in Orange County last year was $135,000, an increase of about 12%. The average price per room was $271,000, up 64%. The $426 million deal for the Ritz‐Carlton, Laguna Niguel in Dana Point was the priciest local hotel buy in 2015. Orange County’s total dollar volume in 2015 was 18% of California’s $9.5 billion in hotel sales. “By any measure … it was a record‐breaking year,” Atlas said.

The Orange County Register 02/25/16 Pacifica Hotels Purchases Resort in Cambria By Hannah Madans http://www.ocregister.com/articles/pacifica-705718-hotel-resort.html   Irvine-based Pacifica Hotels has acquired the San Simeon Pines Seaside Resort in Cambria for an undisclosed sum. San Simeon Pines is located in central California near Hearst Castle and local wineries. The resort includes a private beach trail. The 9-acre resort has 60 guest rooms, a solar heated pool and is just steps from Moonstone Beach. It was originally built in 1959. Adam Marquis, executive vice president of Pacifica, said there will be guest room renovations in the spring. Alan Reay, president of Irvine-based real estate firm Atlas Hospitality Group said he expected Pacifica to “do a massive upgrade.” The group, he said, “controls most of the hotel product on Moonstone Beach in Cambria.” It’s been a busy year for Pacifica. In January the group acquired The Milner Hotel in downtown Los Angeles for an undisclosed price. Reay said the hotel would likely undergo major renovations and be converted to Pacifica’s Wayfarer brand. Wayfarer offers both hotel-style and dorm-style rooms with common areas. There is a Wayfarer in Santa Barbara. Pacifica owns and operates six properties on Cambria’s Moonstone Beach and a total of…

San Diego Business Journal 02/22/16 San Diego Firm Buys La Jolla Inn Hotel for $7.1 Million By Lou Hirsh http://sdbj.com/news/2016/feb/22/san-diego-firm-buys-la-jolla-inn-hotel-71-million/   Oceanic Cos. of San Diego has purchased the 23-room La Jolla Inn hotel in La Jolla for $7.1 million, according to CoStar Group and brokerage firm Atlas Hospitality Group. The seller was Interstate Holdings Inc. of San Diego. The hotel was built in 1947 at 1110 Prospect St. and has since been renovated. Atlas Hospitality Group’s Oliver Shah and Sachin Shah represented the buyer, and Oliver Shah also represented the seller.

San Diego Business Journal 02/22/16 San Diego County Continues to Boost Hotel Room Supply By Lou Hirsh http://sdbj.com/news/2016/feb/22/san-diego-county-continues-boost-hotel-room-supply/   San Diego County added 711 hotel rooms at six new properties in 2015, up 115 percent from new supply added in 2014, according to hotel brokerage and research firm Atlas Hospitality Group. In a newly released California development report, Irvine-based Atlas said the local region had 1,091 rooms under construction at the end of 2015. San Diego County has 48 hotels and 11,157 rooms in various stages of planning. The largest local hotel to open in 2015 was the 179-room Hilton Garden Inn Old Town San Diego. The largest currently under construction is the 317-room Pendry San Diego, in downtown’s Gaslamp Quarter. Atlas Hospitality Group President Alan Reay said California continues to see “very healthy” increases in revenue per available room (RevPAR), with many of the hotels opened in 2014 and 2015 operating at or exceeding forecasted budgets. “The big concern is whether we’re now overbuilding,” Reay said in the report. “Atlas doesn’t believe so, mainly due to the fact that a lot of the new supply is simply making up for the total lack of new hotel rooms from 2009-2013.”…