MCR Flips Iconic Downtown St. Louis Hotel

ST. LOUIS, MI—New York City-based MCR has sold the 195-room Hilton St. Louis Downtown at the Arch here less than two years after it acquired the property.

Hotel owner-operation MCR purchased the storied property in December 2016 from Xenia Hotels & Resorts. The sale of the hotel at 400 Olive St. closed on Sept. 6. MCR states in an announcement that the sale generated a 44% internal rate of return on its investment. No further financial terms of the transaction were reported, including the identity of the buyer of the property.

The hotel was built in 1888 as the Merchant Laclede National Bank. The sale marks MCR’s exit from the Missouri hotel market.

“The returns generated by the sale of this property are a testament to MCR’s investment strategy: purchasing well-located hotels, improving operations and selling opportunistically—in this case, less than two years after acquiring the property,” says Tyler Morse, CEO and managing partner of MCR and MORSE Development.

MCR has been particularly active of late, acquiring the 98-room Hampton Inn & Suites New Haven-South-West Haven in Connecticut and the 107-room TownePlace Suites Harrisburg Hershey in Pennsylvania last month. In July, MCR purchased the 140-room SpringHill Suites Fairfax Fair Oaks in Northern Virginia and the 160-room Hilton Garden Inn Providence Airport/Warwick at Rhode Island’s T.F. Green International Airport.

In early June, MCR announced the successful closing of its $300-million MCR Hospitality Fund LP.

MCR, the sixth-largest hotel owner-operator in the nation, has invested in and developed 104 hotel properties with more than 12,000 rooms in 27 states. The firm has offices in New York City and Dallas. MCR’s portfolio of hotels are operated under 11 brands.