SAN FRANCISCO Kimpton Group has just acquired a strong foothold on the East Coast with a management contract to operate four hotels just purchased by REIT LaSalle Hotel Properties.
Prior to this deal, Kimpton was already working on the redevelopment of the city s historic Tariff Building, meaning the San Francisco-based boutique hotel operator will now have a total of five properties in the Capitol, where it once had none.
Kimpton has long wanted to establish an East Coast presence. The company has a total of 29 hotels, with the majority in San Francisco. Kimpton which was nearly purchased by Marriott International last year has successfully branched out with hotels in Denver; Chicago; Washington State; Portland, OR; Salt Lake City and Vancouver. It also has in the works a redevelopment of an historic building in New Orleans.
The next step for Kimpton, which specializes in carving out hip, boutique-style properties from old buildings, is to acquire a presence in New York, which sources close to the situation say could happen soon. The company has also expressed a desire to open a hotel in Boston.
The four properties acquired by LaSalle comprise a total of 503 rooms. They ve operated as the 99-room Canterbury Hotel, the 82-room Clarion Hampshire House Hotel, the 137-room Quality Hotel and Suites Downtown and the 184-room Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel and Suites. Each property was originally constructed as an apartment building.
Renovations at two of the properties are to begin early in the third quarter, with completion in the fourth quarter. The second phase, involving the other two hotels, should start late this year with completion in the first quarter of 2002.
Plans call for guestrooms and suites, lobbies, entrances, public corridors, meeting rooms and restaurants/bars to be completely renovated. (3/9/01)