hotel for sale

We've been watching the Pebblebrook Hotel Trust gobble up hotels left and right lately. The latest is the Sofitel Philadelphia Hotel which it picked up for $87 million. The Center City hotel is in a historic building that once housed the Philadelphia Stock Exchange and is located near the Philadelphia Convention Center. It was converted to a hotel in 2000 and has 306 elegantly appointed guestrooms, including 68 suites. The hotel includes on-site underground parking, a fitness center, a breakfast-only restaurant and the newly renovated bar/lounge Liberté, which serves cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and light dinner fare. In 2009, the Sofitel Philadelphia Hotel operated at approximately 77% occupancy, with an average daily rate of approximately $169. The hotel will continue to be managed by Sofitel.

Last month the Pebblebrook Hotel Trust bought the Sheraton Delfina Santa Monica Hotel in Santa Monica, California for $102.8 million. Other Pebblebrook hotels include the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco, the InterContinental Buckhead in Atlanta, the Hotel Monaco in Washington DC. Back in October we mentioned that the Pebblebrook Hotel Trust had picked up the Grand Hotel in Minneapolis for $33 million.

The Sheraton Delfina Santa Monica Hotel in Santa Monica, California has new owners. The LA Times reports that the luxury 310-room hotel has been bought for $102.8 million by Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, a Maryland real estate investment trust from Regis Properties, and investment group headed by hotelier Brad Korzen. Korzen's Viceroy Hotel Group will continue to manage the hotel. Other Pebblebrook hotels include the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco, the InterContinental Buckhead in Atlanta, the Hotel Monaco in Washington DC. Back in October we mentioned that the Pebblebrook Hotel Trust had picked up the Grand Hotel in Minneapolis for $33 million.

The REIT will spend $9 million to refurbish the guest rooms and common areas. The hotel began as a 10-story inn back in 1972 and was expanded in 1984, it has an $11 million renovation in 2005. Its location and reputation made this one an easy sell. In 2009, the Delfina was more than 80% occupied in 2009 with an average daily rate of $179.

A historic hotel in Muncie, Indiana will be auctioned off next month. The Roberts Hotel will be auctioned July 14 by Indianapolis-based auction company, Key Auctioneers. The eight-story hotel has hosted five presidents and numerous celebrities since opening in 1922, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The court-ordered auction will take place July 14 at 10 a.m. at the hotel. Local businessmen, including namesake George Roberts, commissioned architect Charles W. Nicol to design a grand hotel that would be "the showplace of Muncie." For most of its history it was the most elegant hotel in the area. The red brick exterior has indigenous Indiana limestone ornamentation and the inside includes ornate plasterwork and a two-story lobby with nine skylights.

One of the older hotels in Los Angeles is being put up for sale. The LA Times reports that the Sheraton Universal Hotel is officially on the market. The 20-story tower has been in financial trouble for at least a year. This one is another case of buy at peak, repent in the slump, Los Angeles-based real estate developer and landlord Lowe Enterprises paid $122 million for the 451-room hotel in 2007. The hotel was upgraded with $30 million in guest room makeovers and a remodeling of the public spaces that focused on capturing the glamour of Old Hollywood. But as real estate values plummeted the hotel's value kept falling. It was appraised at $75 million in February. Lowe lost control of the property earlier this year. No price has been listed but the LA Times speculates that the price for the 41-year-old hotel could be around $90 million.

The hotel remains open as a Sheraton. It has a heated outdoor swimming pool and whirlpool and offers easy access to Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Citywalk. Through the Better Tomorrows program for every night you pay the regular rate, you'll receive the next night at a 50% discount.

A Florida landmark will go up for foreclosure later this month. The Ritz Historic Inn, an 85-year-old Ocala, Florida landmark on the National Registry of Historic Places, will go up for auction on January 21 through the auction firm Tranzon Diggers. A local lender holds the mortgage but opted not to take possession of the property. The auction will take place at the Ritz and a potential buyer must provide ten percent down with the total due a month later.

The new owner will get a 36-room hotel which was built in 1925 as Ocala's first true apartment complex. Each of the Ritz's 16 original apartments had five rooms and a private garage. The entire property was renovated in the 1980s and now has 32 guest suites, a pool, spa and fountains. it is on 2.5 acres and includes a bar and entertainment facility as well as a pavilion and a gazebo. The listing says the property is in need of some repair. Bidders can check out the property at two viewing appointments, January 7 and 14 -- at 11AM.

It seems that nearly every residence of a certain age in New Orleans comes with reports of ghosts and the Lafitte Guest House is no exception. The Bourbon Street boutique hotel is a three-story guest house with 14 restored guest rooms with private baths. HauntedHouses.com says the house is home to several spirits including the ghost of a little girl who died of yellow fever.

What might be scarier however are the reviews the guest house has received on Trip Advisor lately which may be one reason that the charming property is up for sale. Some of the guest rooms have distressed brick walls and many have private balconies. It has a small courtyard and can host up to 50 people for weddings and other events. It is listed at $3.8 million.

Decreasing tourism has pushed another historic hotel into trouble. The Eklund Hotel in Clayton, New Mexico is a slice of the Old West that includes a saloon with bullet holes in its tin ceiling and a ghost named Irene. The hotel is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and was built in 1892.

It underwent a 2.3 million renovation just five years ago. An AP report highlights the impact the hotel's closing has on the small town of 2,100. The hotel has the main restaurant and bar in town. But the owners, Eklund Association, Incorporated a group of investors that has owned the hotel since 1992 have seen business shrink and are still wrestling with debt from the renovation. The owners wanted to keep the hotel open for the summer season but had to close at the end of April.

The Eklund has 26 rooms with private baths. The renovation was paid for with a $2.16 million loan from the First National Bank in Clayton that was guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development business program but it is not known how much is owed on that loan. The State Historic Preservation Office loaned an additional $200,000 for the project and there is still $147,600, plus 3 percent interest owed on that loan. The hotel isn't officially on the market yet as the bank is still in the foreclosure process. The town is hoping that a buyer who wants to be a part of this small town will come along, save the hotel and join the community.

A rather interesting motel is up for sale in Pioneertown, California. Pioneertown is an unincorporated village which started as a live-in Old West motion picture set, built in the 1940s. The movie set was designed to provide a place for the actors to live and a number of Westerns and early television shows were filmed in Pioneertown. Roy Rogers, Dick Curtis, and Russell Hayden were among the original developers and investors and they built the Pioneertown Lodge in 1946 as part of a set.

The 18-room lodge is still in use as a vacation destination and managed to survive the 2006 Sawtooth Complex fire which burned much of the surrounding desert. The property is at a 4,200 foot elevation which keeps it cooler than the lower desert areas like Palm Springs. Rooms are decorated in rustic cowboy style with names like the Annie Oakley and the John Wayne but there is satellite TV and wifi. The property includes 17 stables, one-bedroom manager's quarters, antique wagons on over three acres. The property was listed for $749,000 but was recently reduced to $699,000.

[Thanks, Susan]

A former Victorian rectory turned English country hotel is up for sale. Scenic Egerton Grey is set in 6.43 acres of landscaped gardens and grounds in the Porthkerry area near Cardiff. The property dates back to the 17th Century but has been a hotel for over 20 years. The property has kept much of its original charm. The hotel includes a mahogany paneled entrance hall, an oak-paneled study, a drawing room and many receptions rooms with tall windows offering views out over the grounds. The whole place looks like a setting for a BBC drama.

There are ten en suite bedrooms each with distinctive decor as well as staff bedrooms and both a catering kitchen and a second smaller kitchen and of course, a wine cellar. It has a guide price of £1.95 million.

Usually the hotels for sale that I write about are on the fancier side but the Clermont Motor Hotel in Atlanta doesn't fit that category. What makes it, and its $6.5 million price tag, interesting is its basement. That basement is the home of the infamous Clermont Lounge, Atlanta's first and longest continually-operating strip club. The Clermont is a local landmark that features unusual dancers such as Blondie who recites poetry and has a unique way of crushing beer cans on her chest and Lil' Cathy who has been working at the lounge since her 20s and is now in her 50s. It is hoped that whoever buys the Clermont Motor Hotel from Inman Park Properties will keep the lounge just as it is so that it remains a much-whispered about Atlanta landmark for years to come.

The Bluecreek Retreat in Heron, Montana is a rather unique piece of property. The 160-acre property is located near the Cabinet Mountains of Montana and surrounded by national forests. There are 14 bedrooms in the Bavarian style retreat, each with a unique theme.

An article from The Missoulian from 2007 gives a bit more background on this unique property. The Kirkman family was seeking to create an environmentally-friendly community to look like a European 17th century village. Kree Kirkman named his place Oberkleinberg and from the sound of things, was hoping to build a small utopia of artists, writers, craftsman and others inside a walled village with shops and businesses. The Bluecreek Retreat was the first step in this ambitious project.

The property is also a working ranch and features several barns on the property. This Andrew Henry's Meadow style property is listed at $2.95 million.