Westin Michigan Avenue House of Blues Hotel

The Westin at 909 N. Michigan Ave. has now been sold twice in little more than a year. JER Partners of McLean, VA paid $137 million for the property across Delaware Place from the John Hancock Building in early 2005. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., which had a 25% stake in the property before selling to JER Partners, continues as manager of the hotel. Starwood Hotels & Resorts manages three other hotels in LaSalle Hotel Properties' portfolio.

The $114.5-million price for the House of Blues Hotel at 329 N. Dearborn St. includes 115,000 sf retail and restaurant space at the base of the Marina City condominium towers as well as 896 parking spaces in the first 17 floors of the twin towers. LaSalle Hotel Properties has hired Gemstone Resorts International, LLC to manage the hotel.

"Chicago is one of the top hotel markets in the nation with thriving demand generators, low near-term supply growth, a 24-hour downtown and a diversified commercial base," says LaSalle Hotel Properties chairman and chief executive officer Jon Bortz. "The expansion of the McCormick Place Convention Center in 2007 by over 800,000 sf should also add further demand growth."

House of Blues could get another competitor across Dearborn Street. Kinzie Development South, LLC is attempting to build a 525-room hotel at 400 N. Dearborn St. in addition to a 1.1-million-sf office building and condominium.

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UPDATE: LaSalle Adds 1,118 Rooms With Westin, House of Blues Buys

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