Orange County Business Journal
08/10/17

Hotel Sales Mid-Year Tally: $372M
By Paul Hughes

http://www.ocbj.com/news/2017/aug/09/hotel-sales-mid-year-sales-tally-372m

16 OC hotels sold for more $372 million in the first six months of the year—an average of $23.3 million and 201% higher by dollar volume than in the same period last year.

The tally for the first half of 2016 was just $123.7 million on 14 deals—an average of $9.5 million per sale.

Data is from a mid-year sales report by hotel broker and consultant Atlas Hospitality Group in Irvine.

The 16 hotels sold comprise more than 1,800 rooms, compared with about 890 year-over-year, and the price-per-room rose about 15% to top $202,700, compared with $177,100 last year.

The big increase in room count and dollar value on just two additional sales point to larger hotels being sold this year, headlined by more marquee deals.

The largest and most expensive sale so far this year in OC was the $125 million paid in February for the 444-room Fairmont Newport Beach, a price-per-room of $282,000.

Aliso Viejo-based hotel REIT Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. sold the hotel, a few blocks from John Wayne Airport, to a China-based owner working through Infinity Realty Advisors in Los Angeles.

The hotel has been temporarily renamed The Duke with a new manager, Crescent Hotels & Resorts in Fairfax, Va. The Duke is being renovated and is expected to become the Renaissance Newport Beach, next year.