Maryland REIT Buys Checkers Hotel for $46M

LOS ANGELES-Chesapeake Lodging Trust of Annapolis, MD has acquired the 188-room Hilton Checkers hotel in Downtown L.A. from Tarsadia Hotels for $46 million and will continue to operate it as a Hilton, according to the new owners. Chesapeake says that it has entered into an agreement with Crestline Hotels and Resorts Inc. to operate the hotel under the Hilton flag.

Jordan Richman, a Grubb & Ellis senior vice president in the company’s Hotels, Golf & Leisure practice group who represented both parties in the transaction and facilitated the sale in conjunction with Felix Cacciato of Hotel Equity Advisers, describes the Checkers as “the finest boutique hotel in the Greater Downtown Los Angeles area.” He points out that it is located in the heart of the city’s financial business district. Richman also comments that the transaction “is a good indication that the region’s hotel market is beginning to turn after the economic downturn, which is a welcome reprieve.” Also, it’s the only four-diamond boutique hotel in Downtown L.A., he says.