CANCUN-American Property Hospitality Management of San Diego has acquired the 213-room Le Méridien Cancun Resort & Spa with $56.75 million in financing arranged through the San Diego office of Neptune Hospitality Advisors. Gavin Davis of Neptune arranged the financing, which is a floating rate interest-only loan through an international investment bank.

A Neptune spokesman tells GlobeSt.com that the five–year loan closed at a "very competitive" rate and that American Property Hospitality Management plans further improvements at the resort hotel, which was developed in 2000 and has already been upgraded significantly. The property was sold by the developer, a private investor based in Mexico.

American Property Hospitality Management plans to acquire "several additional four- and five-star hotels and resorts in Mexico," according to Michael Gallegos, president and CEO of the company. The Cancun hotel marks the third Le Méridien acquisition for APHM, which is converting the Hilton Suites at the Galleria in Dallas to Le Méridien and building a new Le Méridien in Tempe, AZ.

According to Davis, the Le Méridien Cancun has been rated at the top of the list of hotels in all of Latin America and among the 80 best hotels in the world by leading travel magazines. He points out that those rankings occurred before management invested $5 million in upgrades during the past year.

The off-market transaction of the Le Méridien Cancun was brokered by Laurus Corp. of Beverly Hills. American Property Hospitality Management is an affiliate of American Property Management Corp., owner of a portfolio valued at more than $1.5 billion, which owns and operates 45 lodging properties totaling more than 12,000 rooms.