Even as the hotel industry across the state of California continues to cool off following a record pace set in 2021, there are some choice properties that generate interest from investors across the country. In a recent transaction that closed on September 2nd, Grapevine, Tex.-based NewcrestImage spent $44.2 million, or $157,295 per key, according to public records, to acquire the La Quinta Inn & Suites hotel in Los Angeles located at 5249 W Century Blvd. The seller of the property was Highgate Hotels.
This property is located next to the Los Angeles International Airport and it is managed by Wyndham Hotels. The ten-story property features 281 rooms, an outdoor pool and a restaurant and bar lounge.
The seller, Highgate Hotels, has been investing and operating hospitality assets for the last thirty years. The company has offices in New York, Dallas, Seattle, Miami, Honolulu and London. Presently, the company manages over 87,500 rooms across the Unites Stated, Europe and the Caribbean, according to its website. Some of the brands that it represents include hotels such as The Newbury in Boston, Southernmost Beach Resort in Key West and Alohilani Resort in Waikiki Beach. It also owns properties operated by Marriott, Westin, Hyatt and Hilton, to name a few.
The buyer, NewcrestImage is a privately-held family office investment firm based in Dallas, with an extensive portfolio of diversified real estate assets and alternative investments, according to its website. The company’s transactions to date included 185 hotel deals worth over $2 billion across 97 cities.
The hotel industry across California saw one of the busiest transactions yeas in 2021, which has seen a decline in 2022. According to a recent, Atlas Hospitality Group’s 2022 Mid-Year California Hotel Sales Survey, the number of individual hotel sales declined by 9.9 percent while total dollar volume fell further by 33.6 percent. At the same time, the median price per room increased by 12.7 percent to a new California record at $143,443.
In Los Angeles County during the first half of the year, the most expensive sale was for the 200-room Godfrey Hotel in Hollywood, which traded for $114 million, or $570,000 per room.
Although sales cooled off somewhat during the first half of 2022 as compared to the record pace set during the same period last year, the report states, it still logged in as the second highest number of sales on record and the third highest in terms of dollar volume.
Atlas does see the pace of transactions in the second half of the year slowing further as uncertainty around the rising cost of debt and the direction of the economy may pose a challenge for investors in the future.
