Dolly Parton Could Open a Nashville Hotel 

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The DJIA was up 0.43%, the Nasdaq was up 0.20%, the S&P 500 was up 0.39%, while the 10-year treasury yield was down merely 0.002%. Markets reflected mixed feelings about possible interest rate cuts. The Dow Jones U.S. Hotel & Lodging REIT Index was up 2%.

Truist held their announced lodging/leisure conference in Boston last week. Their major takeaways from corporate meetings include that lodging companies are not seeing signs of a recession-driven pullback in demand. The group business is seeing the greatest degree of strength followed by individual business. Domestic leisure is lethargic at best.

Playa Hotels & Resorts NV announced their board of directors authorized a new $200 million share repurchase program. This replaces the prior $200 million authorization announced in February 2023. There is only $30 million remaining on the last program.

The citizenM Menlo Park Hotel has officially opened in California’s Silicon Valley. The manufacturing of the modular guest rooms was completed 1 year ago, when the modules were shipped from China to the U.S. and assembled onsite like LEGO blocks. Developed by citizenM, the five-story hotel is composed of 161 modules, with a total of 240 guestrooms.

Ohana Real Estate Investors closed on the acquisition of the 196-room Hilton hotel, in Downtown Brooklyn, NY, from Tidal Real Estate Partners as part of a portfolio purchase that included three retail condominiums. The Hilton purchase is Ohana’s second play in the Downtown Brooklyn hospitality market in about a year. The 19-story hotel includes a 2,300 square foot conference center and a 55-car covered parking lot. Ohana funded the acquisition with a mortgage of $77.5 million from Deutsche Bank.

The Hyatt Place hotel in St. Augustine, Florida sold for $49.5 million. Elite Hospitality sold the property through R & R Hotels LLC to Brimstone Partnership LLC. Brimstone Partners took out a $14 million mortgage with Cogent Bank. The sale consists of the hotel and two vacant adjacent parcels. The hotel has 120 guestrooms, a total of 10,000 square feet of meeting space, restaurant and bar, pool and a fitness center.

Tom Intrator and his development firm 18 Main LLC, is seeking another extension before the development of the $99 million Dream Hotel gets underway. The long-planned hotel, to be built on top of the former Royal Furniture Store, in Memphis, Tennessee, is seeking a nine-month extension of its special use permit. The permit is set to expire on December 31, 2023, and the change would extend it to September 1, 2024. The justification for the extension request is that the developers need the Shelby County Health Department’s approval for abatement.

The Olive Ann Hotel in Grand Forks, North Dakota will celebrate its grand opening on December 13, 2023. The venture is led by Sadie Gardner of 322 Hospitality Group and Phil Gisi. To complete the hotel and event center, the site’s remaining 1915 First National Bank building has undergone an extensive renovation and expansion. The Olive Ann Hotel provides 79 boutique hotel rooms, two dining experiences, a fitness center, community conference rooms and a 350-person event and banquet center.

The Shelbourne South Beach hotel is getting an $85 million makeover. The makeover of the historic South Beach Miami hotel started in late November, according to owners and partners Westdale Properties, King Street Real Estate, Cedar Capital Partners, and hotel management firm Property Hospitality. Updates are coming to the hotel’s 251 guestrooms, restaurants, pool deck and event space. Westdale Properties and Proper Hospitality are now finalizing the bar and restaurant vendors for the site. The hotel is expected to open in the first half of 2025.

Dolly Parton will always love Nashville, and now she may be opening a hotel there. Parton and The Dollywood Co. are behind the $75 million acquisition of an 11-story office building in Downtown Nashville. The recorded buyer is PNH Properties, LLC. CBRE represented the buyer in the off-market sale from Velocis Lincoln Commerce SPE LLC. Dollywood Co. has confirmed to the Nashville Business Journal that Parton and Dollywood Co. are the buyers but have not confirmed a hotel is the next step for the building.

The hotel and banquet/event areas at Toftrees Golf Resort in Patton Township, Pennsylvania are temporarily closed as $50 million in major renovations and construction are planned for the resort. The resort will emerge in 2025 as a “stunning new four-star luxury hotel”. The Field Burger and Tap restaurant will remain open through March as will the golf course. The redeveloped Toftrees Resort will feature 150 hotel rooms, meeting rooms and conference space, a golf course and clubhouse, an outdoor pool, spa, restaurant and private dining room, and additional outdoor space.

Washington D.C.’s Board of Zoning Adjustment signed off on the plan for a 13-story, 117-key hotel on Sixth Street NW in Mount Vernon Triangle. A hotel flag and management company weren’t identified, but the hotel is described as “upscale”. The building will feature ground-floor retail and a rooftop terrace.

Lat33 Capital, the owner of the MacArthur Place Hotel & Spa, is close to a deal to sell a Downtown Sonoma boutique luxury property to an affiliate of Foley Entertainment Group. The 64-room hotel includes a spa, fitness center, outdoor pool space, and a coffee bar and marketplace. Lat33 did not comment on the sales price under contract.

A new hotel is expected to join new apartments and a townhouse development in the Grandview’s next phase of development according to Great Lakes Capital officials. With a price tag of $175 million, the next phase of the mixed-use development will include 246 apartments with a rooftop pool, fitness center, clubhouse private dining rooms, office space and an enclosed parking garage for residents. Developers are also planning to build 66 The Enclave at Grandview Townhomes. The Mishawaka, Indiana property is also expected to have a 125-room hotel with a rooftop restaurant, breakfast and lunch café and event space. Details on a timetable for the project and the brand of hotel going into the development are not available.

D.C.’s longest operating hotel, Hotel Harrington, will end its 109-year reign as the city’s longest continuously operating hotel.

HVS Brokerage & Advisory closed the sale of the 96-key Beachcomber Inn in Galveston, Texas. The property was purchased by Wayside Investment Group from Beachcomber Inn.

Paramount Lodging Advisors announced the sale of the 216-key Embassy Suites by Hilton Cleveland Beachwood, Ohio. PLA also announced the sale of two Hyatt properties, Hyatt House and Hyatt Place in Chicago/Warrenville, IL.

Personnel Moves

Sonder Holdings Inc. announced the appointment of Tom Buoy as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, effective December 11, 2023. Buoy will be responsible for all aspects of revenue generation and strategy, including revenue management, marketing, sales and distribution. Buoy was previously Interim Chief Executive Officer and Board Director for Radisson Hotel Group Americas. The transition comes about with the upcoming departure of Shruti Challa, Chief Revenue Office. She will support during the transition in an advisory capacity.