Westin Providence Is $175M Endeavor for Procaccianti

PROVIDENCE, RI-The Procaccianti Group of Cranston this week completed its $95.5-million acquisition of the 364-room Westin Providence here that is attached to the Rhode Island Convention Center. TPG’s purchase and sale agreement with the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority requires it to add additional hotel rooms to the property. To that end, TPG says it will spend an additional $80 million adding a 28-story mixed-use tower to the side of the existing 28-story hotel. The tower will include 200 new hotel rooms topped by 107 luxury condominium units. The tower also will house street-level retail and parking. The state has required Procaccianti to finish the hotel tower by July 2007. “We were really attracted to the additional development potential of the property, which reduces its cost basis well below replacement cost,” says TPG chief financial officer Gregory Vickowski. “Combining residential living with all of the services associated with a hotel condominium and a…brand such as Westin will be very attractive to the upscale buyer.”The existing hotel is linked by a sky bridge to the Providence Place Mall and the Rhode Island Convention Center and is within walking distance of Trinity Repertory Theater and the Providence Performing Arts Center. The hotel features 18 meeting rooms with 25,000 sf of meeting space, fitness and spa facilities, indoor heated pool, sauna and the Agora Restaurant. TPG currently owns and operates 27 hotels and about 500,000 sf of meeting and conference space for its own account. TPG also manages the Waterside Convention Center in Norfolk, VA and the Richmond Convention Center in Richmond, VA, which is attached to the city’s brand new 600,000-sf convention center. The broker on the Westin sale was Matt Kenney at Pinnacle Realty Investments.