NEW YORK—In what will be a major transaction move, JLL confirmed it has been retained as advisor to Sahara US Corp. to sell Sahara’s 75% stake in The Plaza hotel here on Fifth Ave. across from Central Park.
“The Plaza is the most iconic piece of trophy real estate in the world and has long stood as Manhattan’s preeminent luxury hotel,” said JLL International Director Jeffrey Davis. “This offering gives investors the opportunity to establish an immediate presence with a trophy asset in a high barrier-to-entry market.”
Managed by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, The Plaza has 130 guestrooms, 152 condo-hotel units— of which 100 are unsold—and approximately 132,000 sq. ft. of retail.
“It is rare to find an opportunity to acquire a truly irreplaceable asset, with a tremendous value-add real estate component,” said Managing Director Gilda Perez-Alvarado of JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group. “The combination of hotel, condo-hotel and retail uses makes this a very interesting investment opportunity for a wide universe of global real estate investors.”
Davis and Perez-Alvarado are leading the JLL team on the sale, with VP Brady Rice supporting.
Hilton Garden Inn Portsmouth Downtown
Hotel REIT Chatham Lodging Trust has acquired the 131-room Hilton Garden Inn Portsmouth Downtown in New Hampshire for $43.5 million, or approximately $332,000 per room.
Chatham President/CEO Jeffrey H. Fisher said, “The hotel enjoys the best location within downtown Portsmouth and benefits from strong, diversified demand arising from a great combination of leisure, corporate and government business related to a thriving naval yard.
“Portsmouth is an extremely high barrier-to-entry market, and the city has done a fantastic job balancing growth and maintaining the integrity of this historic community,” he added. “Portsmouth has enacted sweeping changes to zoning codes, which makes permitting and development even more stringent and highly problematic for new supply wanting to enter the downtown market.”
Opened in June 2006, the Hilton Garden Inn Portsmouth Downtown was fully renovated within the past two years and will require no major capital investment until 2022, according to the company.
The hotel will be managed by Island Hospitality Management, which is owned 51% by Fisher.
Holiday Inn Express in Hunt Valley, MD
In Maryland, HREC Investment Advisors arranged the sale of the 125-guestroom Holiday Inn Express in Hunt Valley, approximately 18 miles north of downtown Baltimore.
SVPs Ketan Patel and Kevin Hanley in the HREC Investment Advisors’ Washington, DC office represented the seller during the transaction.
The purchase price was not disclosed.