DANVERS, MA-The Lightstone Group bid $10.1 million in a competitive auction to pick up the Crowne Plaza Boston North Shore here. The 366-room hotel at 50 Ferncroft Rd. had fallen into default and was grabbed in an all-cash payment by a joint venture of Lightstone Value Plus REIT I and Lightstone Value Plus REIT II, with REIT I taking 80% and REIT II taking 20%, Lightstone acquisition officer Ryan Colbert tells GlobeSt.com.  The property also boasts 37,000 square feet of meeting space and a 65,000-square-foot water park.

The seller, WPH Boston LLC, had previously acquired the property in September of 2005 at $26.6 million and in 2008 opened a water park as part of the property called CoCo Key Water Resort. Lightstone noted in its SEC filing that it considered the property "underperforming," but is investing in about $10 million worth of renovations over the next 12 to 24 months. "That includes upgrades to the elevators, replacement of case goods, essentially redoing the lobby, a lot of systems work and a general upgrade to the guest experience," Colbert explains. The asset will stay flagged as Crowne Plaza for now, Colbert notes, and that much of the renovation is to essentially fulfill PIP for the brand.

Colbert explains that, "The two funds are public vehicles which generally target value add acquisition in the United States. They do all the major food groups with focus on hospitality, multifamily and to a limited extent, office." A $1 million deposit was put down in February, roughly 10% of the aggregate, and Jones Lang LaSalle brokered the deal. The auction was held on auction.com.