BETHESDA, MD-Locally-based DiamondRock Hospitality has completed the sale of a three-hotel portfolio to Inland American for $262.5 million. The three properties are 409-room Griffin Gate Marriott Resort & Spa in Lexington, KY; the Renaissance Waverly, a 521-key hotel in Atlanta; and the 492-key Renaissance Austin (TX). Marriott is managing all three assets, and Eastdil Secured advised DiamondRock on the sale.

The hotels collectively generated $21.1 million of adjusted EBITDA last year. DiamondRock expects to record a book gain on the transaction, which will also boost its balance sheet in other ways, CEO Mark W. Brugger said in a prepared statement. Namely, it will reduce the company’s debt by $180 million and increase its corporate cash by approximately $93 million. It also, “further positions DiamondRock as an opportunistic acquirer of hotels.”

Speaking to investors at the REIT’s recent earnings call, Brugger further elaborated on what the sale means to DiamondRock. In short, he said, it represents the tail end of some $1 billion of transformational hotel transactions since early 2010.

Now that they are complete, the quality of DiamondRock’s portfolio is higher than ever, with 95% of its hotel profits coming from assets located in gateway cities and destination resort locations. “By all accounts,” Brugger said, “these urban and resort markets will outperform the rest of the lodging industry over the next decade.”

“To put our upside into perspective, if our portfolio reaches prior peak levels of 2007, and we project much greater growth, that would mean that we’ll see $80 million in additional hotel EBITDA from last year's results, equivalent to 48% growth over 2011.”