Simon Baron Development Arrives in DTLA

The hotel is located at 640 Main Street in Downtown Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES—Simon Baron Development has arrived in Los Angeles. The New York-based investor has acquired the ground lease for Stay on Main, a 600-room, 170,000-square-foot budget hotel in Downtown Los Angeles from 248 Haynes Hotel Associates LLC. This is the developer’s first West Coast acquisition.

The purchased price was not disclosed, however, Matthew Baron, president of Simon Baron, says that the deal came to the firm through an off-market proposal. “This was a deal that came to us through a relationship,” Baron tells GlobeSt.com. “Truthfully, we weren’t looking in Los Angeles, but this deal presented itself to us. Because we weren’t competing with a lot of other people, we were able to take our time and do our due diligence, not just on the asset but on the area in general. One of the things that we really liked when we came here was the emergence of the market. We consider ourselves value investors and we like to go into areas that are emerging, and we definitely saw that in downtown.” 248 Haynes Hotel purchased the property in 2014 for $30 million.