Starwood announced today that it has completed the sale of Chicago’s landmark Raphael Hotel to Miami-based developer Crescent Heights. The 172-room Raphael Hotel, one of Starwood’s non-branded assets, was sold for more than $21 million.
In addition, Starwood also announced the sale of the Sheraton Chapel Hill Hotel for more than $6 million to the Soleil Group, a Cary, North Carolina-based developer that manages hotels and upscale mixed-use projects. The 168-room hotel is just minutes from the University of North Carolina and will remain in Sheraton’s portfolio as a franchise property managed by the Soleil Group, who manages multiple Starwood franchised hotels.

Since 2003, Starwood has sold more than $1.5 billion worth of assets. The more than $27 million from the sale of these two hotels combined with other asset sales since 2004 totals more than $425 million, part of an additional $500 million the Company intends to sell by the end of 2005. The Company expects to use proceeds for share repurchase and for general corporate purposes.
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