LaSalle Hotels Closes In on $52M Hotel Buy

NEW YORK CITY-Bethesda, MD-based LaSalle Hotel Properties is closing in on the purchase of the Holiday Inn Wall Street, a 138-key full service hotel in Manhattan’s Financial District. The REIT has signed a contract with the current ownership, JR Wall Street LLC, to take on the asset for $51.5 million. The purchase price assumes a $20-million first mortgage and the issuance of OP units totaling $3 million.

But it apparently does not assume the housing of the hotel’s current restaurant, San Marino Ristorante. The anticipated departure of the eatery is apparently folded into the contract. LaSalle executives didn’t return phone calls prior to deadline, and hotel management wouldn’t comment on any aspect of the deal.

Neither is there any word on how new ownership will handle the operation of the hotel, currently managed by FB Hot Management, LLC. If all goes according to contract, the deal will close before the end of the year.

A $4-million renovation of the hotel, part of JR’s strategy, is still expected to go through, despite the change of hands. The “renovation–and more–should go forward,” says one source familiar with the deal.

LaSalle owns interests in 30 hotels totaling 8,700 guest rooms. The portfolio, focused on upscale and full-service lodgings, is spread through 11 states and Washington, DC.