BETHESDA, MD—RLJ Lodging Trust is, as it points out on its own announcement, still in the midst of a capital recycling program. The REIT's latest transaction is the sale of the 150-key Hilton Garden Inn St. George in St. George, UT for $15.7 million or $104,300 per key.

The sale price is an 8.7% cap rate on the hotel's 2013 net operating income, adjusted for approximately $2.3 million of pending capital expenditures, the REIT reports. In a prepared statement, Thomas J. Baltimore, Jr., president and CEO notes that this trade is part of the company's larger strategy of recycling non-strategic assets. "We plan to reinvest proceeds from the sale of this hotel and our other 12 hotels towards accretive opportunities that increase our presence in higher-growth markets,"-i.e. it plans to use it for further acquisitions.

One of the REIT's recent major acquisitions was the 10-asset hotel portfolio it bought from Hyatt Hotels Corp. for $313 million. The 1,560-key portfolio will more than double its hotel earnings before EBITDA on the West Coast.

Following on that transaction, RLJ announced the sale of an 11-asset portfolio for approximately $85 million.

As for the Hilton Garden Inn St. George, the estimated 2013 RevPAR represents a discount of more than 30% to its pro forma RevPAR reported for 2013.

With its sale, RLJ now owns 137 properties, two of which are planned conversions, with approximately 21,000 rooms.