New player in mix for Anbang hotels: Richard Faber, formerly working for the U.K. billionaire Barclay twins, is fronting for an investor group interested in acquiring a hotel portfolio owned by China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co., Bloomberg reported. Citing people familiar with the matter, a consortium backed by the British investor’s Spartan Advisors Ltd. is among bidders that were shortlisted to make binding offers for the collection of 15 properties. Spartan has been seeking financing from sovereign wealth funds and wealthy individuals to back the offer. London-based Spartan recently worked on a deal for London’s Beaumont Hotel and advised on a refinancing for the owner of the Ritz Hotel, London. This year, it advised City Developments Ltd. on its takeover bid for Millennium & Copthorne.
Marriott sued over resort fees: The District of Columbia sued Marriott International, claiming that mandatory rate fees at its hotels deceive customers about the true price of rooms and have allowed it to reap hundreds of millions of dollars in profit. According to the lawsuit, 189 Marriott properties worldwide impose fees ranging from $9 to $95 a day. Marriott declined to comment on the litigation.
Second Four Seasons for SF: Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Toronto, has been selected by an affiliate of Westbrook Partners, a privately-owned, fully integrated real estate investment management company, to manage its hotel in the 345 California Center building in San Francisco’s financial district. Currently known as the Loews Regency San Francisco, the 155-room hotel will be renamed Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco at Embarcadero in 2020 following renovations.
Six Senses to Loire Valley: Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas has announced that the 88-room Six Senses Loire Valley in France will be developed by an affiliate of London-based RoundShield Partners LLP, an investment firm focused on European special opportunities. Expected to open in May 2022, the resort will sit within the Les Bordes Estate, a 1,400-acre site in the Sologne forest, home to Les Bordes Golf Club. Provision is being made for 70 residential villas, which are offered for private ownership, with the opportunity to include them in the resort’s inventory. The development will incorporate equestrian and tennis centers, an organic farm, an art gallery, a petting farm, a natural swimming lake with beach, water sports, biking and walking trails.
7th Ritz-Carlton in Japan: Marriott International has signed an agreement with Japanese property developers Sekisui House to open a new 162-room Ritz-Carlton hotel in Fukuoka, Japan. The hotel will be developed and owned by Daimyo Project TMK, a consortium of five companiesm including Sekisui House, Ltd., the project manager for the hotel. The hotel will be part of a new, 24-story tower that will include high-end retail and office space. The tower is set to rise within “Tenjin Big Bang,” a redevelopment project led by Fukuoka City. The Ritz-Carlton, Fukuoka, which would be the brand’s seventh hotel in Japan, is slated to open in Spring 2023. Sekisui House has already worked with Marriott International to open three hotels in Japan and, in addition to The Ritz-Carlton, Fukuoka, has another 19 in its pipeline across the country.
Loan secured for Ritz-Carlton in Portland: BPM Real Estate Group (BPM) has secured a US$460 million senior construction loan to develop a 35-story, luxury high-rise in Portland, Oregon, anchored by a 251-room Ritz-Carlton hotel. The Block 216 project will encompass a full city block, located at the intersection of the Central Business and Pearl District’s in the heart of downtown Portland. The tower also will include 138 branded Ritz-Carlton Residences, 140,000 square feet of Class A office space, and 7,800 square feet of ground-floor retail, which will open up to a pedestrian “festival street.” Portland-based BPM will begin construction of Block 216 this summer and construction is expected to be completed in 2023.
Moxy for Kyoto: Nijo Hospitality Limited Liability Co., an affiliate of Tokyo-based developer Pacifica Capital K.K., has signed a franchise agreement with Marriott International to open the first Moxy hotel in Kyoto. Construction of the 158-room Moxy Kyoto Nijo starts in July 2019 and the hotel is expected to open in spring 2021. This project continues on Pacifica Capital’s entry into the hotel development business with the November 2017 opening of Moxy Tokyo Kinshicho and August 2018 opening of Oakwood Hotel and Apartments Shin-Osaka. Moxy Kyoto Nijo is Pacifica’s second franchised hotel under contract following Fairfield by Marriott Osaka Namba, which is scheduled to open in summer 2020.
Hotel for Sedona landscape: Two Sister Bosses, a Sedona, Arizona, family-owned and -operated company, has announced the development of Ambiente, A Landscape Hotel, which is scheduled to open in late 2020. Ambiente will comprise 40 cubed-shaped, guest Atriums that are elevated above the ground by steel piers and constructed using floor-to-ceiling, bronze-tinted glass and matte-charcoal and rusted metal. A “landscape hotel” is loosely defined as a type of accommodation designed to blend in with the surrounding environment and built with a deep respect for the land around it using sustainable and innovative practices. Among the first in the world are Vivood Landscape Hotel in Spain, Juvet Landscape Hotel in Norway and Sacromonte Landscape Hotel in Uruguay. Ambiente will be the first landscape hotel in North America.
New Castle adds management: New Castle Hotels & Resorts (NCH) has entered into a long-term agreement to manage the 168-room Holiday Inn Saratoga Springs, New York, on behalf of JLK Global Fund International, a Canadian investment group. The fund also partnered with NCH on the development of the dual-brand Residence Inn/Courtyard by Marriott opening in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, later this month.