AUGUST 22, 2008. Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels is pleased to announce the sale of the fee simple interest in the Sheraton Gateway Hotel at Los Angeles International Airport on behalf of its owners, Kor Hotel Group and its partners. The hotel was purchased by Chicago-based Harp Group and its equity partners Fidelity Investments Real Estate Group and Blue Vista Capital Partners. The hotel is strategically located on West Century Boulevard next to Los Angeles International Airport.
The Sheraton Gateway Hotel at Los Angeles International Airport is a unique airport hotel with a strong brand affiliation and provides 802 spacious guestrooms including 103 suites. The recently renovated hotel is a first choice in lodging for many travelers because of its contemporary style and immediate proximity to Terminal 1. The hotel has a total of approximately 48,000 square feet of meeting space with 38 flexible meeting rooms and event spaces. The property also contains four food and beverage outlets, including Shula’s Steakhouse and a full service Starbucks Café, as well as a state-of-the-art fitness center and an outdoor pool.
“The Harp Group recognizes the upside potential of this market,” said John Strauss, executive vice president for Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels. “The LAX hotel market has performed extremely well in recent years with occupancies for the major hotels topping 80% and RevPAR increases at almost 8% year-to-date. These strong underlying fundamentals coupled by the high cost of new construction and lack of available sites around LAX, one of the world’s busiest airports, made this a strategic offering to a collection of domestic and international investors that pursued the transaction. This sale following the trade of Hyatt Century City in the second quarter further demonstrates strong investor appetite for high quality hotel properties in the greater Los Angeles area despite a more challenging debt environment and concerns about the overall economy.”
Jones Lang LaSalle’s Real Estate Investment Banking team, led by David Christensen and Jeffrey Davis, also secured $65 million in aggressively priced acquisition financing for the Harp Group and its equity partners.
“Harp plans on continuing a franchise affiliation with Sheraton Hotels & Resorts. Chicago-based Portfolio Hotels & Resorts will assume management company responsibilities following the closing,” said Alan Tantleff, an executive vice president for Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels.
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