ROMULUS, MI-Lenders who took over a former Hampton Inn, now branded as Lexington Hotel here at the edge of the Detroit Metropolitan Airport property, have sold the site to a local investment group. The sales price was not disclosed for the 135-room property.

The hotel was a Hampton until another hotel with that brand was built just down the road, says Monty Levy with HREC Investment Advisors. Levy and Ted Anka with the Denver-based firm represented the special servicer in the sale. The property hasn’t been doing well, hitting nightly occupancy in the mid-50% range, Levy tells GlobeSt.com. “The site has been losing business to the national brands,” he says.

However, Levy said the purchase indicates buyers are returning to the market, and this unnamed purchaser already owns several hotels in the area. Detroit, which has seen many sales of big-named hotels and loss of properties back to lenders, has been climbing up in occupancy, according to Hendersonville, TN-based hostel research firm STR. For example, in the last week of October among the top 25 Markets, Detroit reported an average occupancy rise to 58.4%, according to the research firm. That’s better than the average national occupancy rate for that week of 57.9%.

Also, properties near Detroit Metro have a static draw, Levy says. “Detroit is the 12^th busiest airport in the country,” he says.