Atlas in the news

Orange County Business Journal 06/13/16 Surge of Hotel Development More Than 7,000 Rooms Proposed in Four Cities By Mark Mueller http://www.ocbj.com/news/2016/jun/13/surge-hotel-development/   The four Orange County cities with the heaviest volume of hotel construction are seeing a divergence in the type of properties being built there and the sorts of guests the hotels will target. Hotel projects made up the largest source of activity taken up by Orange County’s top commercial real estate developers on this week’s Business Journal list. Eight of the 20 ranked companies completed hotels in the past year… The developments include a number of limited-service hotels targeting business travelers and budget-conscious tourists, as well as family-friendly resorts and, most recently, high-end offerings. Among the latter is Paséa Hotel & Spa, which opened last month in Huntington Beach. The 250-room property on Pacific Coast Highway has room rates at more than $400 and was developed by Irvine-based Pacific Hospitality Group and R.D. Olson Development in Newport Beach. The project, along with developments in Anaheim, Garden Grove and Irvine, combined for more than 90% of the hotel rooms represented on the list that opened in OC in the past year. The four cities also have a hotel development…

Orange County Business Journal 06/13/16 Indies Rock Hotel Owners Trade Big Brands for Local Focus By Paul Hughes http://www.ocbj.com/news/2016/jun/13/indies-rock/   A range of Orange County hotels are declaring independence, testing the potential and limits of a hot hotel market and foregoing the regular business a brand can bring…   …The brand-to-indie trend comes in cycles, with ebb and flow (see box, this page). It’s flowing toward indie in today’s market. Room rates have risen for two years—rates at Christensen’s property are up about 15% from last fall alone—and the Orange County Visitors Association in Irvine forecasts further revenue growth this year and in 2017. A savvy consumer using technology to research and book stays adds to the growth market where hotels want to run free, said Alan Reay, president of Irvine-based broker and consultant Atlas Hotel Group. “You don’t have to depend on the brand’s reputation anymore,” Reay said. Hotel managers agreed. “Why should we pay somebody money when they don’t have influence?” said Buena Park’s Christensen. Reay said brands bring recognition, loyalty programs, buying power, and easier financing, but owners will weigh that against a loss of control and annual fees that run 8% to 11% of room revenue….

Voice of OC 06/09/16 Disneyland Asking for Largest Hotel Tax Subsidy in Anaheim History By Adam Elmahrek http://voiceofoc.org/2016/06/disneylands-recent-hotel-tax-subsidy-request-is-largest-in-anaheim-history/#   When Disneyland officials unveiled plans this week for a massive new luxury hotel in Anaheim, they also applied for a room-tax subsidy worth well over $200 million, which would be the largest hotel tax subsidy in the city’s history. The proposal calls for a 700-room, 900,000 sq. ft. hotel to be built on a parking lot adjacent to the resort. It would include upscale rooftop dining, two swimming pools with food and beverage service, multiple spas, 24-hr. bell and valet services and a fitness center, among other amenities. The mega resort’s subsidy request was made under the city’s hotel development incentive program, which allows developers to collect 70 percent of the room taxes generated over 20 years by luxury hotels. To qualify, the hotel must be built to standards that would earn a four-diamond rating from AAA…   …City leaders contend such deals are needed because Anaheim is lacking in luxury hotel rooms needed to attract upscale clientele for events at the convention center. But Alan Reay, president of Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality Group, says such arguments are dubious. Wealthy convention goers…

Silicon Valley Business Journal 06/10/16 San Jose in Deal to Sell Hayes Mansion for $47 Million By Nathan Donato-Weinstein http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2016/06/10/san-jose-in-deal-to-sell-hayes-mansion-for-47.html   With its handsome 1905 Mediterranean Revival main building, San Jose’s historic Hayes Mansion hotel and conference center looks like a million bucks. Unfortunately, it sucks much more than that every year out of the city’s general fund just to pay the debt service. Now the city is close to an all-cash deal to sell the historic property to a hotel investor for $47 million, enough to pay off the debt and then some. “It’s a beautiful property and a great asset, but it’s a financial albatross to a city when saddled with $37 million in bonded indebtedness,” said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo in an interview on Thursday. The potential deal — which must still be finalized — comes after multiple false starts over the years. Success this time around would underline rising values for hospitality assets in Silicon Valley after several years of strong growth in business travel. Previous attempts to sell the property didn’t produce a potential sale price big enough to completely pay off the debt. This time around, the $47 million sale will be used…

Los Angeles Times 06/01/16 Once a Den of Prostitution and Drugs, the Cecil Hotel in Downtown L.A. Is Set to Undergo a $100-Million Renovation By Andrew Khouri http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cecil-hotel-20160601-snap-story.html   The Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles is set to undergo a $100-million renovation by a New York City developer, which aims to transform the former den of prostitution and drugs into a hip boutique hotel and micro rental units. The plan for the hotel is yet another example of the development boom sweeping downtown, where old buildings are being revamped and new hotel and condo towers erected. “We are gutting the entire building,” said Matthew M. Baron, president of Simon Baron Development, which this month signed a 99-year ground lease with the building’s owner, 248 Haynes Hotel Associates. “We are going to redevelop it from the doorway to the roof and everything in between.” But the transformation of the hotel – which served as an inspiration for a season of “American Horror Story” – could prove controversial…   …Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group, described downtown Los Angeles as “probably the hottest hotel market in the United States.” If the area’s revival continues unabated, the market should absorb the…

Orange County Register 05/25/15 Rooms with a Surf City View: Paséa Hotel & Spa Debuts Thursday By Hannah Madans http://www.ocregister.com/articles/rooms-717182-hotel-pasea.html   Just in time for Memorial Day weekend, the Paséa Hotel & Spa will have a soft opening Thursday, ahead of its grand opening June 10. The property, which sits across PCH from the iconic Huntington Beach Pier, boasts 250 guestrooms, ocean views, a Bali-inspired spa, 11 meeting rooms, 34,000 square feet of ocean front event space, Tanner’s restaurant and a rooftop bar. Rooms were available for the holiday weekend, according to a search at Hotels.com, which posted rates from $339 per night up to $4,900 nightly for a penthouse suite. Pacific Hospitality Group and R.D. Olson Development are the developers for the project. PHG will serve as the management company for the property and R.D Olson Construction is the general contractor for the project. Scott Blakeslee, general manager of the hotel, said his goal when joining the project last summer was to offer guests a unique experience. “It’s a departure from the traditional coastal properties you see,” Blakeslee previously told the Register. “It has a clean, contemporary look but carries warmth and artistry.” “We took something raw and fun…

Los Angeles Business Journal 05/23/16 Co-Living Firm Squeezes ’Em In HOSPITALITY: PodShare hopes tight space stacks up as business. By Daina Beth Solomon http://www.labusinessjournal.com/news/2016/may/23/co-living-firm-squeezes-em/   Thrifty travelers to Los Angeles now have more options than bunk beds in grim Hollywood hostels or spartan rooms rented through Airbnb. They can sleep in a pod. At Elvina Beck’s PodShare in downtown Los Angeles, guests grab a bed for $40 a night – as long as they’re cool with sacrificing privacy in a unisex communal space with about 20 other people. Just as Uber Technologies Inc. has proved that passengers will jump in cars with strangers and WeWork Companies Inc. has gotten companies to share desks, 4-year-old PodShare is setting out to establish “co-living” as an affordable way to travel or settle into a new city. “It’s incredibly innovative,” said Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group in Irvine. “It’s probably the furthest thing away from a typical hotel room you can get.” While some might cringe at sharing space with strangers in their pajamas, Beck believes plenty of travelers, especially 20- and 30-somethings, will love the chance to make new connections. “If I ask what’s your favorite hostel in America, you don’t…

Los Angeles Business Journal 05/16/16 Making Room SBE’s Sam Nazarian welcomes Morgans’ boutique hotel trio to hospitality empire By Daina Beth Solomon http://www.labusinessjournal.com/news/2016/may/16/making-room/   Hotel mogul Sam Nazarian is buying a boutique hotel group in a deal that could bolster his reputation as king of chic nightlife. Nazarian’s SBE Entertainment Group, based in Mid-Wilshire, has agreed to pick up New York-based Morgans Hotel Group for $82 million, plus the assumption of about $700 million in debt and preferred securities. Nazarian, 40, said he saw the acquisition as a chance to take on celebrated hotel brands, including Mondrian and Delano, and inject expertise from SBE’s dining and drinking destinations. “It is not often you find a platform that fits yours so well, especially a platform that fits the same ethos and DNA,” Nazarian said. “The opportunity we see is not necessarily fixing anything, but telling the story as we move forward.” The deal had been in the works for more than a year, stalled by disagreements among Morgans’ investors. The terms priced the stock at $2.25 a share. Nazarian, who began selling off hotel properties last year, said the acquisition supports his long-term goal of managing, rather than owning, the bulk…

Napa Valley Register 05/08/16 Yountville Hotels, V Marketplace Sell for Record $148 Million By Jennifer Huffman http://napavalleyregister.com/business/yountville-hotels-v-marketplace-sell-for-record-million/article_d75c669e-c26d-5119-ba80-18f090c193c1.html In what could be the largest private sale of a Napa County lodging and shopping property, the Vintage Estate of Yountville has sold for $148 million. On April 26, Brookfield Hotel Properties of Maryland bought the 22-acre Napa Valley property from the Egan, Ghilotti and Sandbach families. “We are thrilled to acquire this iconic property and are excited to be part of this community,” said Shai Zelering, managing director, operations and asset management for Brookfield Hotel Properties. The company declined to comment on the sale price, which was calculated by the Napa County Assessor’s office from deed records. The mixed-use estate includes the Vintage Inn and the Villagio Inn & Spa, two restaurants, a spa, meeting space, a three-acre vineyard and more than 43,000 square feet of retail and office space in the V Marketplace. Brookfield is still in the early stages of plans for the property, “but we are committed to maintaining the Vintage Estate’s reputation as a favorite place of both residents and visitors to Napa,” Zelering said. The property’s name will remain the Vintage Estate, and it will remain open…

Silicon Valley Business Journal 05/06/16 21-Story Addition Contemplated for Historic Montgomery Hotel in Downtown San Jose By Nathan Donato-Weinstein http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2016/05/06/21-story-addition-contemplated-for-historic.html   It’s easy to miss the narrow parking lot between San Jose’s historic Montgomery Hotel and the back of the Fairmont annex. But this strip of pavement is where the Montgomery’s owner is considering some ambitious plans: A 21-story tower addition that would contain some 280 guest rooms. To fit all those rooms into a narrow footprint, owner Khanna Enterprises would construct Silicon Valley’s first cantilevered tower, with the seventh story stretching out over a portion of the 1911-built Montgomery (now known as the Sheraton Four Points — though long-timers will always call it by the former name). The plans, submitted last month, are preliminary — meaning that they are being being proposed purely for feedback from city staff. A formal proposal could see changes to the design, if it even moves forward. But the mere existence of even an early concept shows strong interest in hospitality in downtown San Jose, which has seen increasing room rates and decreasing availability. Yet unlike other Silicon Valley submarkets, only one new project has broken ground during this cycle — a 210-room AC…

Orange County Register 05/05/16 Hold on, Orange County! The Tourists Are Rolling In By Margot Roosevelt, Joseph Pimentel and Hannah Madans http://www.ocregister.com/articles/million-714988-year-california.html   …Hotel taxes made up a big slice of the local tourism windfall. Overall, Orange County jurisdictions collected $246 million last year, up 13 percent from 2014. The top five: Anaheim ($118 million), Newport Beach ($20.4 million), Garden Grove ($17.2 million), Dana Point ($12.5 million) and Irvine ($10.6 million). Three new hotels with a total of 606 rooms opened last year, and 11 others –with a total of 2,365 rooms – were under construction. The pace is accelerating: At the end of 2015, planning was underway for 25 more Orange County hotels with 4,200 rooms, according to Alan Reay, president of Irvine’s Atlas Hospitality Group, a hotel brokerage. “The big spike in the numbers right now is just making up for lost years,” Reay said, noting that development had stalled after the recession because of a lack of financing. “Today we have escalating revenues, growth in tourism and corporate business and historically low interest rates,” he said. “All of those are green arrows for a perfect environment for new hotel development.”

Orange County Register 04/29/16 Irvine-based Hotel Company Breaks Ground in Napa By Hannah Madans 04/29/16 http://www.ocregister.com/articles/hotel-714115-group-resort.html Irvine-based Pacific Hospitality Group broke ground on a hotel in Napa on Friday. Meritage Commons will be a four-story, 145-room resort, including 39 suites, an outdoor pool and a food and wine village. The hotel will be across the street from PHG’s The Meritage Resort and Spa, which opened in 2006. Pacific Hospitality group bought nine acres for the new development four years ago. Earlier this year the group purchased the oceanfront Ko’a Kea Hotel & Resort on Kauai. The property was named the most prestigious resort in Hawaii in Conde Nast Traveler’s “Top 25 Resorts in Hawaii: Readers’ Choice Awards 2015.” Terms of the Ko’a Kea deal were not disclosed. The 121-room hotel includes nine suites, a fitness center, spa, pool and 11,170 square feet of meeting space. The hotel’s restaurant, Red Salt, serves seafood and locally sourced produce. An affiliate of Pacific Hospitality Group in September bought a hotel in the iconic French Quarter of New Orleans. The affiliate, Cotton Exchange Investment Properties, bought AC Hotel New Orleans Bourbon/French Quarter from an affiliate of Dallas-based NewcrestImage for an undisclosed price. Pacific Hospitality…