Pandox buys in UK, sells in Canada: Pandox AB, Stockholm, Sweden, has acquired a hotel and operations in central Bath, Great Britain, for £40 million (US$43.36 million) from an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group. Pandox will initially fund the acquisition with cash and existing credit facilities. The 176-key property will be operated under a new management agreement with Axiom Hospitality, subject to a franchise under the DoubleTree by Hilton brand. Pandox anticipates the hotel to generate a stabilized yield of 7.5%. In a separate transaction, the company entered into an agreement to sell the 357-key InterContinental Montreal in Canada for CA$80 million (US$58.85 million). The sale includes both the hotel as well as hotel operations. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023.
AJ Capital acquires in Scotland: AJ Capital Partners, Nashville, Tennessee, has acquired The Dornoch Hotel in Dornoch, Scotland. The hotel will become the fifth addition to Marine & Lawn Hotels & Resorts, a collection of global properties located in premier golf destinations. AJ Capital will reposition the 122-room property as Dornoch Station hotel, in honor of the hotel’s original name, Station Hotel. The hotel, which is closed now, will open in the summer of 2023 following extensive renovations, including the installation of a putting green, fire pits and more outdoor amenities. The renovated hotel will feature 89 rooms, with the interiors being led by AJ Capital’s in-house design team.
Twenty Four Seven Hotels adds 4: Twenty Four Seven Hotels, the Newport Beach, California-based third-party hospitality management company, has added four hotels in California to its West Coast portfolio. The hotels include the 128-key Hyatt House Sacramento/Midtown, the 1120-key Hyatt Place Newark/Silicon Valley, the 90-key Hampton Inn & Suites Marina and the 119-room Holiday Inn Express Chino Hills. The company is providing pre-opening services for the soon-to-open properties, which will be fully operational by December. These four additions bring the company’s Golden State portfolio to 20. Currently, Twenty Four Seven Hotels’ portfolio comprises 25 hotels across four states with 2,300 rooms across the U.S.
Waramaug acquires 2 in Huntsville: Waramaug Hospitality, Dallas, Texas, has entered Huntsville, Alabama, with the acquisition of the 102-room Hilton Garden Inn Huntsville South/Redstone Arsenal and the 88-suite Hampton Inn & Suites Athens I-65/Huntsville Area. Terrapin Hospitality will manage both properties. Waramaug has acquired over US$800 million in hotel assets totaling over 5,000 rooms and more than 40 properties.
Hotelier Bowden buys out investors: Hotelier Kevin Bowden, who opened the 125-room Cambria Hotel on Madeira Beach in Florida, has bought out his investors and is considering infusing new investments into his latest projects. Centennial Bank provided Bowden with the original construction loan for the Cambria hotel and had closed a US$33 million loan for Bowden to buy out his institutional investors. At present, Bowden is developing the Miramar Beach Resort, which includes the demolition of an existing 27-room motel and the building of a 54-key luxury boutique hotel. He is also planning to redevelop the 42-key Schooner Resort into a 56-key, seven-story boutique resort. This plan is held up in a litigation process. Bowden is working with Centennial Bank to fund the projects for over US$100 million.
Hotel Zamora’s new owner: A limited liability company tied to Sherman Associates has acquired Hotel Zamora, the 72-room, four-story hotel in Gulf Boulevard, Florida, for US$34.7 million from Zamora Hospitality Group. Zamora Hospitality, which is owned by Devanand Mangar, acquired the property in 2016 for US$14.5 million. The hotel opened in 2014 and was supposed to be St. Pete Beach’s first new property in decades when plans were unveiled in 2007. With the recession and housing bust, financing soon dried up and it was only in 2013 that private investors added over US$10 million to help complete the project.
Island Hospitality grows in New York: Island Hospitality Management, West Palm Beach, Florida, has assumed operations of the 143-key Hilton Garden Inn Westchester Dobbs Ferry in New York. This marks the company’s seventh hotel in New York and brings Island’s portfolio of third-party operated hotels to 83 across the U.S. Island Hospitality operates more than 80 hotels under 15 brands in 25 states and the District of Columbia.