News in the past week here has focused on hotel and office buildings. GlobeSt.com reported that the Renaissance Stanford Court Hotel and adjacent parking garage have been handed to a receiver, Douglas Wilson Cos., which is now overseeing hotel operator Marriott International. Funds of JER Partners paid approximately $93 million in January 2007 for the 393-room luxury hotel on Nob Hill and then spent $32 million completely renovating the eight-story property. Barclays Capital, the lender, says in court documents that the borrower defaulted on its $89-million loan for the acquisition, renovation and operation of the hotel and then essentially walked away from the asset, prompting it to litigate for the foreclosure and sale of the property. The property continues to be operated by Marriott International.

In addition, Whitehall Street Real Estate Fund is selling a $43-million note on a class A office building at 250 Montgomery St. in Downtown San Francisco, according to a report in the San Francisco Business Times. Lincoln Property Co., which acquired the property in December 2006 at the top of the market, defaulted on the note late last year. Offers were due June 5. Lincoln has agreed to deed the property to the buyer in lieu of foreclosure, according to the report.

Hotel and office sales activity in the past year has been slow and the prices low. There have been 23 hotel properties offered for sale in the region in the past year but just eight sales. The average price paid per key was $109,000 while the average asking price for the properties listed for sale was $164,000 per key. On the office front, there have been 126 properties listed for sale and 52 sales. The average price on closed transactions was $280 per square foot while the average listing price was $368 per square foot.