CHICAGO— DiamondRock Hospitality has closed on the $117.5-million purchase of the fee-simple interest in the Conrad Chicago Hotel here. A joint venture consisting of Westbrook Partners, Walton Street Capital and Lodging Capital Partners sold the asset with Sonnenblick Goldman as its advisor. The 17-story, 311-key property originally opened in 2001 along North Michigan Avenue as a Le Meridien. The selling joint venture bought the hotel only about a year ago and subsequently carried out a $5-million capital improvement plan that upgraded the asset to five-diamond quality. Following that investment, the hotel was reflagged as a Conrad. Guestrooms now feature Pratesi bed linens, L’Occitane bath products, iPod docking stations, Bose 3-2-1 Hi-Fi entertainment systems, 42-inch plasma-screen televisions and wireless Internet service. Three food and beverage venues are also found at the hotel as well as 12,000 sf of meeting space.
