LaSalle Hotel Properties today announced it has acquired The Westin Copley Place for approximately $318 million excluding expenses. The all-in investment amount, including expenses, is approximately $324 million. The Westin Copley Place is an urban, luxury full-service hotel with 803 well-appointed guestrooms. The hotel is located in the Back Bay area of downtown Boston, just minutes from Logan International Airport. The hotel will continue to be managed by Starwood, which also manages the Company’s Westin City Center Hotel in Dallas, Texas and Sheraton Bloomington Minneapolis South Hotel in Bloomington, Minnesota.The AAA Four Diamond hotel has guestrooms that feature Westin’s signature Heavenly Bed(R) and Heavenly Bath(R) and sweeping views of the city. The hotel offers high speed Internet access in all rooms, WestinWORKOUT(R) Powered by Reebok Gym, an indoor heated pool, spa and salon services. The hotel features more than 47,000 square feet of meeting and function space, including two major ballrooms. The hotel also includes five restaurants: Turner Fisheries Restaurant, The Palm Restaurant, The Huntington, Osushi and Bar 10, which was voted “Best Hotel Bar” by Boston Magazine. The hotel is connected, via temperature-controlled skywalks, to the Hynes Convention Center and Copley Place, with over 100 retail shops and restaurants. The hotel is also in close proximity to historic Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox.
“We are very pleased to have acquired this premier asset strategically located near the Hynes Convention Center, extensive upscale shopping and entertainment venues and dense office space in the Back Bay market of downtown Boston,” remarked Jon Bortz, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LaSalle Hotel Properties. “The hotel’s high barrier-to-entry urban location, leadership position in the Back Bay market, proximity to numerous strong demand generators, and high quality make this an attractive investment for the Company. Boston continues to recover occupancy and ADR that were lost with the 2000/2001 downturns that significantly impacted the hotel market. We believe that demand and ADR will continue to increase with the addition and ramp-up of the new Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, the completion of the Big Dig and construction of the new Rose Kennedy Greenway, the expansion and renovation of Boston’s Logan Airport and the recovery and growth of the technology, biomedical and financial services industries that predominate the Boston area.”
“Since 2002, we have enjoyed a great relationship with LaSalle Hotel Properties and look forward to growing this fine partnership,” said Chuck Tomb, senior vice president, development, Starwood Real Estate Group. “LaSalle Hotel Properties continues to be an ideal owner for Starwood branded properties.”
“We are excited to expand our long-standing relationship with Starwood,” added Mr. Bortz. “The excellent performance of The Westin Copley demonstrates their deep understanding of the Boston market and what it takes for a premier hotel to be successful.”
In connection with the acquisition, the Company assumed the $210 million first mortgage on the property, issued to one of the prior owners approximately $58.7 million in preferred units in the Company’s operating partnership with a coupon rate of 7.25% and paid the balance with proceeds from the Company’s August 24th sale of preferred shares with a coupon rate of 7.50%. The $210 million mortgage has a maturity date of August 31, 2015 with an interest rate of 5.28% and is interest only until maturity. A portion of the proceeds was used to defease an existing mortgage. The Westin Copley Place sits on land leased from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, with the lease being prepaid through 2077.
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