Transactions

Hotel & Motel Management, April 19, 2004 by John Walsh

Openings

Battey Downtown LLC plans to open a 36-suite Hawthorn Suites LTD in Rome, Ga., this fall.

Chelsea Grand LLC (owner) and Interstate Hotels & Resorts (operator) opened a 158-room Four Points by Sheraton in New York. The 22-story hotel is in the Chelsea district of Manhattan.

Joe Ghoman (owner) and Coakley & Williams Hotel Management (operator) opened a 225-room Crowne Plaza in Allentown, Pa. The hotel formerly was known as The Allentown Hotel.

Ehrhardt LLC opened a 62-room Comfort Inn in Macon, Mo.

The Ferchill Group opened a 198-room Hilton Garden Inn in Detroit. The hotel offers 27 suites, a swimming pool, fitness center, valet parking and two restaurants.

Good Hospitality Services opened a 70-room Holiday Inn Express in Gas City, Ind.

John Q. Hammons opened a $30-million, 225-room Courtyard by Marriott in Oklahoma City. The hotel is the 150th Hammons has developed.

Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group plans to open the 205-room 70 Park Avenue Hotel in New York in July. The hotel formerly was the Doral Park Avenue.

Metro Nine Hotel LLC opened an 80-room Comfort Inn in Long Island City, N.Y.

Montsher Hotel Group LLC (owner) and FHC Hotel Management Co. (operator) opened a 231-room Clarion Hotel in Shreveport, La.

Northwoods Investment Group LLC opened a 42-room AmericInn Lodge & Suites in Shell Lake, Wis.

Praesumo Enterprises Ltd. opened a 65-suite Hawthorn Suites in San Antonio. There are 23 Hawthorn hotels in Texas.

Himanshu Patel reopened a 162-room Quality Inn & Suites in Nashville after a $1.9-million renovation. Richfield manages the hotel.

The 88-room Sanderling Resort, Spa and Conference Center in Duck, N.C., is opening its 8,000-square-foot expanded Spa on the Outer Banks this month.

Skyline International opened the 157-suite Pantages Suites Hotel Spa in Toronto.

The Summit Group opened an 83-suite Quality Suites in Lincoln, Neb. The hotel formerly was a Hawthorn Suites.

Town Center Hospitality (owner) and Benchmark Hotel Group (operator) opened a 149-room Crowne Plaza in Virginia Beach, Va. The hotel formerly was the Clarion Hotel-Town Center.

Management

Van Tampa Plaza Hotel (owner) and InnDeavor Development Corp. (operator) opened the 250-room Clarion Tampa (Fla.) Westshore. The hotel formerly was a Park Plaza. Conrad Hotels signed an agreement with Majestic Resorts to operate the 378-suite Conrad Majestic Resort and Residences in Las Vegas. Groundbreaking for the hotel is scheduled for late 2004, and the hotel is expected to open in 2006.

The U.S. Postal Service selected Dolce International to manage the 477-guestroom, 60,000-square-foot William F. Bolger Conference Center in Potomac, Md.

Elite Island Resorts will oversee the management, marketing and operations of the 154-room Long Bay Beach Resort & Villas on the island of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.

Equity Inns appointed Wright Investment Properties to manage the 184-room Doubletree Club Hotel Park Central in Dallas and the 159-room Holiday Inn Hanes Mall in Winston-Salem, N.C.

InterContinental Hotels Group hired SCM LLC to manage the supply-chain function for IHG's corporate and owned/managed hotel portfolio. SCM will manage sourcing, negotiating, contracting and interfacing with suppliers to maintain cost and quality control.

Interstate Hotels & Resorts signed an agreement to manage the 309-room Ontario (Calif.) Airport Hilton. JER Partners owns the hotel, which is undergoing a $5-million renovation.

IPD Hospitality signed management contracts to operate the 100-room, full-service Safari Lodge at Busch Gardens in Orlando, an 84-room Country Inn & Suites by Carlson in Chicago and the Dalton (Ga.) Extended Stay, an independent hotel.

Le Meridien Hotels & Resorts signed an agreement to operate the new 577-room Le Meridien in Abuja, Nigeria. The hotel is scheduled to open in August.

Lionstone Hotels & Resorts and Flag Luxury Properties retained Titan of New York LLC to asset manage the 376-room Ritz-Carlton South Beach in Miami Beach, Fla.

Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group will manage a 128-villa resort and spa that's under development on the Riviera Maya coast in Mexico. Desarrollos Marinos del Caribe is developing the resort, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2005.

Acquisitions

Manhattan Hospitality Advisors was named the management company for the 21-room, 18-cottage Elk Mountain Resort in Ridgeway, Colo. The resort is scheduled to open in the spring.

Monchino Management LLC signed agreements to manage a 112-room Comfort Suites and a 102-room Quality Suites in Memphis and an 80-room Comfort Inn & Suites in Germantown, Tenn. Ashford Hospitality Trust purchased a 425-million junior mezzanine participation interest from the originator of the first mortgage, senior mezzanine and junior mezzanine loans. The junior mezzanine loan is secured by a 17-hotel portfolio comprising 5,354 rooms.

The City of Portland, Ore., acquired the Doubletree Portland Downtown Hotel through eminent domain from Boykin Lodging Co. The city plans to transfer the property to Portland State University for redevelopment and use as a student housing and other academic, retail and conference purposes. Boykin received $19.7 million for the property. Concurrently, it sold the furniture, fixtures and equipment to the university for about $2.3 million.