Atlas in the news
How Hotels Can Gain an Edge This Year
GlobeSt.com 04/06/16 How Hotels Can Gain an Edge This Year By Carrie Rossenfeld http://www.globest.com/sites/carrierossenfeld/2016/04/06/how-hotels-can-gain-an-edge-this-year SAN DIEGO—Being aware of trends in the capital markets, asset management, technology and customer service will serve hoteliers well this year, RAR Hospitality’s president Bob Rauch tells GlobeSt.com. His firm recently held a lodging forecast event here titled “Harnessing the Tailwinds: Capitalizing on the Successes of the Year Ahead.” We spoke exclusively with Rauch and Atlas Hospitality’s group president Alan Reay, who participated in the event, about some of the key takeaways that could help hoteliers gain an edge in a highly competitive industry. GlobeSt.com: How can hotel investors and operators harness the tailwinds and capitalize on the successes of the year ahead? Rauch: The first thing we talked about at the conference is that this is still a very, very strong year. While there may be headwinds in the future, right now everything is going smoothly. Whether it’s an impending terrorist attack, minimum-wage hikes affecting us in the future or Obamacare impacting our costs, these things have not hit us hard because RevPAR is moving at a faster clip than our increases in costs. We say take advantage of that. Don’t just take whatever…
Chinese Buyers Want More Than Big Houses
Orange County Business Journal 04/04/16 Chinese Buyers Want More Than Big Houses Developers, Backers Buy into Commercial Market By Mark Mueller http://www.ocbj.com/news/2016/apr/04/chinese-buyers-want-more-big-houses/ Beijing-based Anbang Insurance Group Co.’s bid to buy two of Orange County’s premier resort properties—Montage Laguna Beach and The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel—as part of a larger national portfolio deal marks a new high-water mark in Chinese companies’ recent investment push into the area’s commercial real estate sector. Chinese-based investors—along with local investment companies backed by money from China—have poured more than $1 billion into large existing OC properties and big development sites over the past 18 months. That’s more than five times what China-based investors spent annually on real estate deals here a few years ago, according to Business Journal data. Nearly another $2 billion could be spent by many of the same companies to finance ground-up development sites across the county, including locations in Anaheim, Lake Forest and Irvine. Notable recent deals include: • Irvine-based homebuilder Landsea Holdings Corp.’s purchase late last year of the Portola Center South residential development site in Lake Forest, which will hold more than 550 single-family homes and townhomes. The buyer is the U.S. arm of China-based real estate company Landsea…
Is the Hotel-Buying Mania Cooling Off?
The Orange County Register 04/04/16 Is the Hotel-Buying Mania Cooling Off? By Jonathan Lansner http://www.ocregister.com/articles/hotel-710651-year-percent.html Is the hotel business getting the chills? To understand how hot hotels have become, please ponder the Montage Laguna Beach resort. Who wouldn’t want to own the gorgeous seaside resort? Well, it was sold twice last year – and another deal to sell it is in the works. Yes, a hotel buying spree has meant the 250-room Montage has been flipped like an ordinary investment condo. • It started in January 2015, when the Montage was sold by an investment group started by eBay Inc. founder Pierre Omidyar to resort specialists Strategic Hotels. • Before the year was out, Strategic Hotels – whose 18-hotel portfolio includes the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel and San Diego’s Hotel del Coronado – sold itself for $6 billion to real estate investment giant Blackstone Group. • And last month, after just three months of ownership, Blackstone agreed to flip those Strategic hotels – including the Montage – to Chinese insurer Anbang for $6.5 billion. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” said hotel consultant Alan Reay of Atlas Hospitality in Irvine. “These are trophy assets that usually trade once every 10…
California Sees Pricing, Development Boom in 2015
HotelNewsNow 03/23/16 California Sees Pricing, Development Boom in 2015 By Sean McCracken http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/34508/California-sees-pricing-development-boom-in-2015 REPORT FROM THE U.S.—By just about any metric, California’s hotel industry had a massive 2015. Recent surveys of both transactions and development from Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality Group show records for sales volume, price per room and new construction. California hoteliers said the state’s hotel boom offers both opportunities and challenges as the key performance metrics remain strong, but high demand markets grow more competitive for both projects and consumer dollars. “Some (developers) we’re talking to who were early into the game said they wouldn’t do those deals today,” said Alan Reay, president of Atlas Hospitality Group. “Now they’re only looking for prime, prime markets with high barriers to entry. If I was a developer, I’d be looking at those locations, and I believe there are still opportunities with the right brands.” New builds A total of 34 hotels with 4,395 rooms were completed in California during 2015, according to Atlas’ hotel development survey. The state ended the year with 98 hotels and 15,833 rooms under construction. Reay’s company notes this is a substantial increase over the past couple years. The number of hotels under construction at…
Menlo Park Getting New Hotel and Office Complex
InsideBayArea 03/23/16 Menlo Park Getting New Hotel and Office Complex By George Avalos http://www.insidebayarea.com/breaking-news/ci_29677112/menlo-park-getting-new-hotel-and-office-complex MENLO PARK — Developers on Wednesday launched a dramatic addition to Menlo Park, one of the hubs of venture capital in Silicon Valley, by beginning construction of a luxury high-rise hotel, three office buildings and a fitness center. “This is going to be a real plus for Silicon Valley and Menlo Park,” said Howard Dallmar, an executive managing director with Newmark Cornish & Carey, a commercial realty firm that is seeking tenants for the offices. “You look at the tech companies that need additional space in these markets and they are having difficulty finding offices.” The project consists of a high-rise hotel, three office buildings, a Bay Club fitness center and outdoor activity facilities. Located near the U.S. Highway 101 and Marsh Road interchange, the mixed-use complex is being built by a joint venture of Bohannon Development, Ensemble Real Estate Investments and AECOM Capital. “The end result will re-confirm Menlo Park’s position at the historic heart of Silicon Valley innovation and, at the same time, transform this industrial neighborhood into a vibrant environment for people and business,” said David Bohannon, a senior vice president with…
Montage Sold a Third Time?
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…
Group Led by Chinese Firm Anbang Bids $12.8 Billion for Starwood Hotels
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…
Strategic Hotels Sold to Chinese Insurance Company for $6.5 Billion
The Orange County Register 03/12/16 Strategic Hotels Sold to Chinese Insurance Company for $6.5 Billion By staff and wire reports http://www.ocregister.com/articles/hotel-707955-hotels-strategic.html LOS ANGELES – Blackstone Group has agreed to sell Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc., owner of Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel and the Montage Laguna Beach, to a Chinese insurance company for $6.5 billion, The Associated Press reported, citing a person familiar with the deal. The agreement with Beijing-based Anbang Insurance Group comes about three months after the private equity firm completed its acquisition of the hotel operator. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity Saturday because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the deal, could not immediately say how much of the $6.5 billion deal value includes debt. Blackstone completed its acquisition of Strategic Hotels in December. That deal was valued at $3.93 billion, or about $6 billion including debt. Strategic’s $360 million January 2015 purchase of the 250-room Montage Laguna Beach, from Ohana Real Estate Investors, was at the time the biggest hotel sale in California history. A spokeswoman for Blackstone declined to comment Saturday. An email to a media representative at Anbang was not immediately returned. Alan Reay, president of hotel consultant and broker Atlas…
Milpitas Selling Land to Hotel Developer; Expert Calls It a Great Site but Pricey Deal
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….
Huntington Beach Hilton to Undergo $140 Million Expansion, Adding New Tower
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…
Hotel Sales Flat, Values Way Up
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…
