Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels group announced the sale, which closed in late June. The hotel, located at 670 White Plains Rd., features 444 guestrooms, approximately 26,000 sf of meeting space, an indoor swimming pool with retractable sky roof, whirlpool, sauna, beauty shop and gift shop as well as a number of restaurants and food and beverage outlets.

Morgan Stanley had implemented approximately $11 million in upgrades to the hotel in the past two years to transform it into a best-in-class asset, says Amelia Lim, senior vice president of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels. "The market responded very favorably to the opportunity to leverage the recent renovations and Westchester County's booming economy, as well as to acquire a highly-desirable Marriott-managed asset."

Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels EVP Alan Tantleff says the deal is another indication of the hot sales market for hotels in the New York City region. "There is strong demand for hotels in suburban New York due to the strong fundamentals and limited land for future hotel construction," he adds. Jones Lang LaSalle represented Morgan Stanley and procured the buyer in the transaction.

Tantleff notes that since the start of the year the brokerage firm has sold the Clarion LaGuardia in Queens and the North Maple Inn in Basking Ridge, NJ. The firm currently is marketing for sale Blackstone Group's Windham LaGuardia and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide's Sheraton Manhattan as well as Host Hotels & Resorts Inc.'s Sheraton Stamford in Stamford, CT.

According to Northview Hotel Group's website, the hotel investment firm, which also has a San Francisco office, and an unnamed institutional private equity partner acquired the Westchester Marriott on June 27.

Simon Hallgarten, partner with Northview Hotel Group, says the firm was attracted to the property due to the strong residential and commercial markets of Westchester County and likened the Westchester Marriott to its Bethesda Marriott asset. "Bethesda is to DC what Westchester is to New York City," he notes.

Hallgarten says that for some time the Westchester Marriott "had been underperforming the market," A major road reconstruction project along adjacent I-287 has been a contributing factor.

He adds that planned renovations by Northview, including improvements to the hotel lobby, should improve the hotel's operating performance. Northview will serve as asset manager and construction manager on all the capital improvements.