Atlas in the news

The Orange County Register 08/18/15 Have Frenzied Buyers Pushed California Hotels to Bubble Pricing? By Jonathan Lansner http://www.ocregister.com/lansner/hotels-678128-strategic-hotel.html Perhaps “For Sale” should go next to the “No Vacancy” sign. A record flood of dollars is being spent on California hotels this year, a buying binge that has induced the owner of two iconic Orange County luxury resorts to consider a sale. Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc. – owner of 18 luxury hotels including the 393-room Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel and the 250-room Montage Laguna Beach – said Monday it is “exploring possible strategic alternatives for the company, including the potential sale of the company.” The news comes as Atlas Hospitality Group of Irvine reports a record $4.4 billion was spent to buy 174 California hotels in the first half of the year. While 13 fewer hotels were sold vs. 2014, this year’s six-month dollar total – up 64 percent vs. 2014’s pace – surpasses the annual total of every year but 2006. The buying spree certainly raises questions about the sanity of hotel valuations when you note that Atlas’ first-half median selling price for California is up 65 percent in three years. I don’t want to say “bubble” … but you…

Hotel Management 08/18/15 California Hotel Sales Hit New Record By Elliott Mest http://www.hotelmanagement.net/operations-management/california-hotel-sales-hit-new-record-32320 The hospitality industry continues to show strong signs of life as sales of California lodging properties during the first half of 2015 were revealed to have surpassed all previous records. According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, hotel sales in California reached over $4.4 billion in the past six months, overtaking all previous midyear totals for the state since Orange County-based Atlas Hospitality Group began tracking sales activity in 1994. In fact, this year’s midyear total is even above the volumes recorded for all full years of sales, excluding 2006. Atlas Hospitality president Alan Reay told The San Diego Union-Tribune that the industry can’t maintain the pace that has been seen over the past 12 to 18 months. 2015 began with a bang, with the state’s Montage Laguna Beach and Westin Market Street each selling for over $300 million. However, sales in San Diego County were actually down for the first half of this year compared to 2014, but the difference was made up by the average selling price for hotels in the County increasing more than 43 percent to $191,663. Over 13 transactions have taken place in…

The San Diego Union-Tribune 08/17/15 California Hotel Sales Hit a New Record By Lori Weisberg http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/aug/17/california-hotel-sales-new-record-first-half-2015/ The hotel industry is indisputably back from the depths of the recession, with sales of California lodging properties during the first half of this year surpassing all previous records. There were more than $4.4 billion in sales transactions in the first six months of 2015, a volume that eclipsed all previous midyear California totals since 1994 when the Orange County-based firm, Atlas Hospitality Group, first began tracking sales activity. In fact, the prices being paid for hotels has grown so much that the midyear total surpassed volumes recorded for all full year of sales, with the exception of 2006, Atlas found. “We simply can’t maintain the pace seen over the last 12 to 18 months,” said Atlas Hospitality President Alan Reay…

The Orange County Register 08/07/15 Hot Properties: Investors Snap Up California Hotels with Record Spending By Jonathan Lansner http://www.ocregister.com/lansner/year-678002-hotels-california.html Investors are paying record amounts for California hotels with spending on pace to exceed any previous year. Atlas Hospitality Group of Irvine reports a record $4.4 billion was spent for 174 California hotels in the first half of the year. While that’s 13 fewer hotels sold vs. 2014, this year’s six-month dollar total – up 64 percent vs. 2014 – surpasses the annual dollar volume of every year but 2006. California investors liked larger hotels, with the median room count of properties sold rising to 60 from 47 in 2014. Meanwhile, the median price per room paid rose 25 percent to $91,000. Key to the buying boom is the hotel industry’s record profits, which attract buyers who are using low interest rates and plentiful financing to make deals. Orange County had similar shopping patterns. The number of first-half deals fell by three to 11 compared to a year ago. Yet dollars spent by buyers soared by 45 percent to $749 million. Investors are paying up for bigger local hotels, too. The median sale price of an Orange County hotel was $32…

The Daily Transcript 08/14/15 Record Hotel Room Revenues Here, Elsewhere By Thor Kamban Biberman http://www.sddt.com/News/article.cfm?SourceCode=20150814czc&_t=Record+hotel+room+revenues+here+elsewhere The mid-year average price per hotel room increased by more than 43 percent year over year, according to an Atlas Hospitality Group report. The average price-per-room figure climbed in San Diego by 43.25 percent from $133,791 at mid-2014 to $191,663 by mid-2015. The average price-per-room increases in San Diego County and the rest of the state were so strong that Alan Reay, Atlas Hospitality president, says they are completely unsustainable. “This has been a record-breaking six months. I don’t see how this could keep up next year. I can’t see how these increases in RevPAR (revenue per available room) can continue,” Reay said, adding that the low cost of capital has helped to fuel the purchases. The combined dollar hotel sales volume in San Diego County amounted to $696.54 million through June — off just slightly from $701.08 million in the first half of last year. While the average price of a sold hotel in San Diego County was $43.53 million, the median price was just $5.62 million — meaning that smaller hotels accounted for the bulk of the sales transactions. The median figure was…

San Diego Business Journal 08/06/15 High-End Hotel Properties Up Ante on Luxury TRAVEL: Downtown Arrivals May Pressure Others Into Renovations By Lou Hirsh http://www.sdbj.com/news/2015/aug/06/high-end-hotel-properties-ante-luxury/ Luxury hoteliers appear to be reaping the biggest returns in a healthy local and national tourism economy, and observers say the roster of new hotels on tap for downtown San Diego could significantly raise the posh quotient in places including East Village and the Gaslamp Quarter.

Orange County Business Journal 08/13/15 $749M in Hotel Sales in First Half of 2015 By Paul Hughes http://www.ocbj.com/news/2015/aug/13/749m-hotel-deals-first-half-2015 Eleven Orange County hotels sold for a total of $749 million in the first half of 2015, according to Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality Group’s mid-year survey of hotel sales. The 11 hotels sold is down by three hotels at the same time last year while the dollar value is 45% higher than the $517 million year-over-year—driven by the sale of Montage Laguna Beach in January for $360 million. That deal dwarfed the other 10 and accounted for nearly half the value of all sales; excluding the Montage, the value of local sales would have declined by about 20%. Other notable purchases include the Marriott Irvine, which closed in June for $126.2 million, and the $32 million acquisition of Carousel Inn & Suites Anaheim by a Walt Disney Co. affiliate in March. Orange County produced about 16% of the $4.4 billion hotel sales statewide in the first six months of the year. Atlas said that statewide six-month tally was higher than any annual total since 2006.

HotelNewsNow 08/14/15 California Sets Records in Dollar Transaction Volumes http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/article/16472 California sets records in dollar transaction volumes: The “2015 Mid-year California hotel sales survey” from Atlas Hospitality Group has revealed that hotels are shining in the Golden State, with the total dollar amount of hotel sales in its first six months of this year being greater than any annual total (except for 2006) in the history of California hotel sales. Northern California increased 83% in total dollar volume, and Southern California was up 51%. The dollar sales volume for the first six months equaled $4.4 billion, a 64% increase compared with the same period in 2014, with the median sales price-per-room increased by 25%. In addition, 13 $100-million-plus sales occurred in the period, versus four for the same period in 2014, although the number of individual hotel sales actually declined 7%.

Sacramento Business Journal 08/11/15 What Beverly Hills Investment Firm Might Do After Buying Sacramento’s Citizen Hotel By Mark Anderson http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2015/08/11/what-beverly-hills-investment-firm-might-do-after.html A Beverly Hills-based investment firm is buying the boutique Citizen Hotel in downtown Sacramento. The move could signal upgrades are coming for the landmark property. The hotel is being sold by Cal West Partners, a limited partnership managed by Rubicon Partners Inc. of Sacramento. The buyer is Sacramento Hotel LLC, a limited liability corporation that will be managed by investment firm Platinum Equity. Neither would discuss terms of the deal, first reported by Hudson Sangree in the Sacramento Bee. The sale has not yet closed. The Citizen, which carries the Joie de Vivre hotel brand, is four blocks from the site the new downtown arena, expected to open in the fall of 2016. Valet parking for the property is in a city parking garage at 10th and I streets, and the transfer of the rights to 183 parking spaces is what signaled that there is a sale afoot. The contract to transfer the rights to the parking spaces is on the Sacramento City Council’s consent calendar for Tuesday. Platinum Equity has over $6 billion of assets under management. It specialized…

Silicon Valley Business Journal 08/10/15 Millennium Hotel, a Flashy Full-Service Brand, Sets Sights on Sunnyvale — Again By Nathan Donato-Weinstein http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2015/08/10/millennium-hotel-a-flashy-full-service-brand-sets.html   Nearly 10 years ago, Sunnyvale’s sprawling Four Points Sheraton came tumbling down, with Silicon Valley poised to get a feather in its cap for a replacement: Northern California’s first Millennium Hotel, a swanky full-service brand with properties in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and a handful of U.S. “gateway cities.” The economy had other plans. Now, Millennium is resurrecting the project at 1250 Lakeside Drive, which will include 263 guest rooms and 250 apartment units next door. It’s the latest entrant in the region’s positively bursting hospitality development pipeline, with some 2,211 rooms at some stage of development or construction in the South Bay, according to PKF Consulting. But most of the planned projects are “select-service” hotels — properties that do not include significant restaurant or meeting space. The Millennium revival is notable because it suggests the market may finally be ripe for full-service hotels that offer more amenities and charge higher nightly rates. That would be great news for cities, which stand to gain more in lucrative hotel taxes as rates climb, as well as businesses seeking…

Orange County Business Journal 07/20/15 http://www.ocbj.com/news/2015/jul/20/oc-hotel-market-stays-hot-1262m-deal   The 485-room Irvine Marriott Hotel at the Irvine Towers office complex near John Wayne Airport has been sold to a Los Angeles-based institutional investor. An investment affiliate of L.A.-based brokerage CBRE Group Inc. recently closed on the purchase of the 16-story hotel, which runs along the San Diego (405) Freeway at 18000 Von Karman Ave. Terms of the deal were not disclosed by the buyer, although property records indicate a fund overseen by CBRE Global Investors paid about $126.2 million, or $260,000 a room, for the establishment. The deal is the second priciest hotel sale reported in Orange County this year, trailing only January’s $360 million sale of the Montage Laguna Beach, which broke state records by selling for a little more than $1.4 million per room. The per-room price paid for the Marriott is well behind that benchmark. But it still is about $100,000 per room more than the average sale price for California hotels valued at more than $5 million that were sold in 2014, according to data from Irvine-based hospitality consultant Atlas Hospitality Group. CBRE Global Investors said this month that it had closed a new fund—called CBRE Strategic Partners…

07/17/15 Silicon Valley Business Journal By Nathan Donato-Weinstein http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2015/07/17/hotel-los-gatos-bankruptcy-deal-in-works-to-sell.html Delays and false starts may have been a good thing in the on-again, off-again sale of Hotel Los Gatos. More than four years after the upscale 72-room hotel filed for bankruptcy, a buyer finally appears to be in sight — and at a higher price than previous deals that were ultimately scuttled. The question now: Whether the property’s biggest lender will get on board with the deal, or push for what the debtor is calling “a fire sale.” IHA Hotel Group, which also owns San Francisco’s King George Hotel, is in contract to buy the 72-room property for $29.5 million, according to court records filed this week. It would mark the third time the hotel has reached a purchase-and-sale agreement with IHA, but attorneys for the hotel said that environmental hurdles that killed previous sales are nearly cleared. “The sale proceeds will be sufficient to pay all of the Debtor’s creditors in full, with interest,” attorneys for the Los Gatos Hotel Corp., wrote in a status conference statement on July 15, a day after going into contract with IHA. The sale price of roughly $410,000 per room underscores the region’s red-hot…