ORLANDO—Hyatt Hotels Corporation is grabbing the 1,641-room Peabody Orlando hotel for $717 million from UST Hotel Joint Venture, Ltd. The transaction is expected to close on Oct. 1, 2013, and the hotel will be rebranded as Hyatt Regency Orlando Convention Center.

“This transaction brings us a very high-quality hotel in one of the most popular cities in the world and enhances the Hyatt Regency brand already a leader in meetings and conventions with a presence adjacent to one of the largest convention facilities in the U.S.,” says Stephen Haggerty, global head, real estate and capital strategy for Hyatt. “We are confident that we will be able to build on the strong performance of this property through the depth and breadth of our relationships with meeting planners and corporate travel managers and the global strength of our brand.”

Hyatt Regency Orlando Convention Center will be the sixth Hyatt-branded hotel in Orlando, but the first large convention hotel presence for Hyatt in the market. The property will be a significant addition to the Hyatt Regency brand, which is well known for extensive meetings facilities around the world.

With more than 200,000 square feet of meeting space and over 2 million square feet of space in the Orange County Convention Center to which the hotel is attached, the rebranded Peabody will offer the most meeting space of any Hyatt Regency hotel in the U.S. Hyatt expects the acquisition to position the company to compete successfully for in-house group business in addition to citywide convention business.

“Orlando, the second largest hotel market in the United States, continues to benefit from strong demand from a variety of different types of guests,” Haggerty says. “The strong base of business booked at the Orange County Convention Center over the coming years demonstrates the attractiveness of the market to associations and corporate groups.”

The Peabody Orlando hotel is in excellent condition and has solid reputation with meeting planners and guests. Because the hotel recently completed a nearly $440 million multi-year expansion and renovation, Hyatt does not plan to invest significant capital in the near future. Hyatt expects the hotel to generate about $10 million of EBITDA in the fourth quarter of 2013 and approximately $55 million of EBITDA in 2014.

“The overall number of visitors to Orlando continues to increase and it remains one of the most visited vacation destinations,” Haggerty says. “This addition to the Hyatt Regency portfolio will create value for the company in multiple ways and is consistent with our strategy of applying our capital to increase our brand presence in key markets.”