BETHESDA, MD— Privately held RLJ Development finished 2001 with a flurry of activity as it acquired two hotels late in December for $46.5 million. RLJ closed, all cash, on the 238-room Hilton Tampa Airport Hotel in Tampa, FL on December 20 after a very brief due diligence period. The property was acquired from Prudential Insurance Company of America for $20.5 million, and includes 12,000 square feet of meeting space, a restaurant and separate lounge, fitness center, gift shop, and the largest outdoor pool in the Westshore submarket of Tampa. RLJ has retained Davidson Hotel Company to manage the property. One week earlier, on December 14, RLJ closed on the 205-room Baltimore Inner Harbor Courtyard in Baltimore, MD. The property was acquired from Crestline Capital Corp. for $26 million, and will be managed by Crestline Hotels & Resorts, a wholly owned subsidiary of the seller. The hotel includes 2,252 square feet of meeting space, a restaurant, bar, business center, fitness center, and indoor swimming pool, and is located in the burgeoning East Side area of the Inner Harbor. Robert Johnson, chairman/CEO of RLJ Development stated, “We are proud to be a new member of the Tampa and Baltimore communities. Both are cities on the rise, with bright futures, and if the nationwide hospitality environment remains challenging for a while, we believe they will be resilient markets for us.” Tom Baltimore, president of RLJ added, “Those two markets also bring healthy geographical diversity to our portfolio. With the Hilton and Courtyard we now own nine hotels, and they offer further diversification for us because they are our first full-service hotel and our first Marriott product, respectively.” RLJ gained control of the Hilton Tampa Airport opportunity late in November by agreeing to close by the end of 2001 without the support of a lender. Baltimore commented, “The Hilton acquisition, in particular, showed our strength as an investor because we were able to proceed all cash, without a financing contingency. Now we are shopping for debt without the pressure of a closing deadline. In addition, we intend to spend over $4.0 million repositioning the hotel, and can take the time needed to walk a lender through the process and help them understand how much more competitive the Hilton will be when the work is complete.” Major renovations will commence at the Hilton Tampa Airport Hotel this summer. The Courtyard Baltimore Inner Harbor is one year old, and will receive only incidental improvements. RLJ does not anticipate any significant staffing changes at either property.
