Commonwealth Hotels Acquires 2 Houston Properties

The DJIA rose 104 points, Nasdaq was up 113, the S&P 500 rose 29 points and the 10 year treasury yield was down .11 to 3.50%. Treasuries were the only part of the indexes that actually fulfilled what looked like their destiny after the better inflation report this morning.  Overall, stocks gave back most of their pre-market gains. Lodging stocks wound up mixed on the day.

Commonwealth Hotels acquired the 120-suite Residence Inn Houston-West University and the 100-room Courtyard by Marriott Houston-West University. Both hotels are centrally located in the Greenway Plaza-West University area of Houston, Texas and offer meeting room spaces, pools, fitness centers, business centers and on-property food and beverage options.

The Zoning Board of Appeals has given approval for a hotel and residential project at the site of the former Magnuson Hotel on Pittsfield Road in Lenox, Massachusetts. BBL Hospitality received a special permit and site plan application for the project, which is expected to cost at least $30 million. The project includes an 87-room Element Hotel, plus 28 residential apartments in seven new three story buildings. 

Crescent Hotels & Resorts added Hilton Denver Inverness to its Latitudes: Lifestyles by Crescent collection. Located in Englewood, Colorado, near downtown Denver, the hotel offers 302 guestrooms, five food and beverage venues, a full-service luxury spa, and a PGA Championship 18-hold golf course and full-equipped Pro Shop. Hilton Denver Inverness also offers 40 meeting rooms encompassing almost 50,000 square feet of event space. 

Lodging Dynamics Hospitality Group has been appointed to manage The Charter Hotel Seattle, Curio Collection by Hilton. The 229-room hotel features more than 10,00 square feet of meeting and event space and two upscale dining experiences.

Aimbridge Hospitality announced the expansion of its portfolio with the addition of three extended stay properties recently acquired by Three Wall Capital, LLC. The properties are: 94-room Home2 Suites by Hilton Olive Branch, Olive Branch, Mississippi; 82-room Candlewood Suites Appleton, Appleton, Wisconsin; and 120-room Candlewood Suites Norfolk Airport, Norfolk, Virginia.

Work continues on a $80 million project for a DoubleTree by Hilton hotel across the street from the Abilene Convention Center in Abilene, Texas. Slated to open in June, the 200-room hotel will offer a restaurant, cocktail bar, and a pool and fitness center. The DoubleTree by Hilton will have 17,000 square feet of meeting space and its ballroom can accommodate 1,000 people.

The Four Seasons Hotel will definitely be the new luxury hotel at the old shipyards site in Jacksonville, Florida, according to News4JAX. The Jaguars own the land where the hotel is going and new legislation is underway to allow them to buy the land where an office complex will sit. As part of the deal, the Jaguars will build a new marina and marina complex for the city. Work is underway and is expected to be complete by the end of June 2026.

Hotel Indigo will formally break ground on Thursday at the MidCity District in Huntsville. It will be the fourth Hotel Indigo in Alabama. The hotel is one of three hotels planned so far at the mixed-use development on University Drive. ViaNova Developments is overseeing the hotel project. According to developer RCP Companies, private investment at MidCity is expected to surpass $1 billion.

Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants announced the name of its first on-campus hotel, The Forum Hotel at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business in Charlottesville, Virginia. Set to open in spring 2023 on the Goodwin Family Grounds of the Darden School, The Forum Hotel will stand five-stories and feature 98 guestrooms and 10 suites. Amenities include more than 11,500 square feet of meeting spaces and classrooms, two unique restaurant and bar concepts and an on-site fitness center. The Forum will be Charlottesville’s first Kimpton property.

The 219-room Days Inn by Wyndham Orlando Convention Center/International Drive, in Orlando, Florida, sold for $19.5 million. The property was bought by DDC Hotels Inc. and Drury AT 2022 LLC, entities registered to Drury Development Corp., which is owned by the Drury family alongside the related Drury Hotels Co. LLC. The seller was Gem 6 Inc. The days Inn by Wyndham includes four buildings and restaurant space. 

Davidson Hospitality Group has been selected to operate 21c Museum Hotel Chicago under its lifestyle operating vertical, Pivot. The hotel is a multi-venue museum and 297-room boutique hotel featuring 106 suites and 10,000 square feet of meeting and event space.

Olympia Hotels Management has been selected to develop and operate a new hotel called The Crossroads Inn and its restaurant, The Salt Line, located on the campus of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. The Crossroads Inn and The Salt Line are part of a new conference complex called The Vassar Institute for the Liberal Arts. Anticipated to open in 2024, the hotel will include 50 guest rooms, a fitness facility, and two “Snugs,” serving as a shared living room for guests. The Salt Line restaurant will sit adjacent to the Inn’s lobby. The space will include a 60-seat restaurant, the 24-seat Night Owls bar, a 14-seat private dining room, and a 36-seat patio.

City of Hope has opened a 147-room hotel to accommodate patients and their families while patients undergo treatment at the Duarte, California facility. The $65 million July & Bernard Briskin Hope Village hotel includes 116 studio rooms, 27 standard rooms, 15 pairs of rooms with connecting doors and four one-bedroom suites. The property also features a 1913 Restaurant and Bar and offices.

Groundbreaking at the 100-room Margaritaville Hotel planned for the center of Flagler Beach is expected in April and the hotel should open to its first guests in the fall of 2024. Elite Hospitality is the owner. Margaritaville is looking at the Flagler Beach hotel as its flagship in its boutique category. 

The SureStay Plus Hotel by Best Western Topeka Northwest has opened in Topeka, Kansas, following the completion of a nearly $250,000 renovation. The 45-room hotel features an indoor pool, fitness center, spa, and business center.

JLL Capital Markets has closed the sale of and secured acquisition financing for Cape Codder Resort & Spa, a 266-key hotel in Hyannis, Massachusetts. JLL represented the seller, Catania Hospitality Group, in the sale to Linchris Hotel Corporation. In addition, JLL represented Linchris and worked with HarborOne Bank to secure their financing. 

JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group has arranged a $110 million refinancing for two adjacent beachfront hotels totaling 481 keys in Pensacola Beach, Florida. JLL represented the borrower, Innisfree Hotels, in securing the five-year, fixed-rate loan with flexible repayment options through a regional bank. The first hotel is the 275-key Hilton Pensacola Beach featuring 15,000 square feet of meeting space, two outdoor pools, an indoor heated pool, a hot tub, beach access, fitness center, art gallery, and four food and beverage outlets. The second hotel is the Holiday Inn Resort Pensacola Beach which offers 206 guest rooms and suites, a lazy river pool, fitness center, table tennis, indoor pool, outdoor pool and whirlpool, two food and beverage outlets and 6,500 square feet of meeting space.

Lodging Partners arranged the sale of the Windsor Hotel, a historic boutique hotel in Americus, Georgia. Lodging Partners exclusively represented the seller on the transaction. The hotel has been acquired by an affiliate of Edgewater Group LLC. The property traded for $12,500,000.

Personnel Moves

InterContinental Hotels Group appointed Michael Glover as Chief Financial Officer. Michael will take up his new position and become an Executive Director of IHG’s Board and a member of IHG’s Executive Committee with effect from March 20, 2023. Michael has been with IHG for 18 years and currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of the Americas and Group Head of Commercial Finance. He succeeds Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson who, in October, announced his intention to pursue an opportunity outside IHG after 19 years of service. Paul will step down from his role and the IHG Board effective March 19, 2023. 

Island Hospitality Management announced the promotion of Kate Bleakley to vice president of operations, WaterWalk division, from her most recent role at the Hyatt Place Cherry Creek. Prior to joining Island, Bleakley held multiple positions with Millennium Hotels & Resorts.