Alrov Acquires Lutetia Hotel from Starwood

PARIS-Alrov, an international real estate company with a portfolio of Israeli and European properties, has acquired the 231-room Art Deco Hotel Lutetia from Greenwich, CT-based Starwood Capital Group. The hotel is in the Saint-Germain-des-Pres neighborhood of Paris and will continue to be managed by Groupe Concorde, a separate Starwood affiliate, "for the foreseeable future," according to Starwood.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Reports earlier this year said that Alrov was negotiating to acquire the Lutetia for a price north of $190 million.

Starwood describes the transaction as part of the ongoing evolution of the Greenwich, CT-based company's Societe du Louvre portfolio, Europe's second-largest hotel network, which also owns five other hotels in the Paris market. For Alrov, the acquisition expands a portfolio that, in addition to hotels, includes office and commercial buildings, shopping centers and other assets owned by the company, whose European offices include locations in Paris, London, Zurich and Amsterdam.

Richard Gomel, managing director at Starwood Capital, describes the Lutetia as a historic property and says that the sale produced "an attractive return" while freeing additional funds for future investments. Inaugurated in December 1910, the establishment has proven a true backdrop for the century’s History, sometimes tragic with the German occupation from 1940 to 1945, sometimes poignant as it hosted deportees in the wake of the Liberation of Paris. The hotel opened in December 2010, according to the property's web site, and was known as a haven for intellectuals, writers, poets and celebrities throughout its history. It survived occupation by the German Army during World War II and later served as a clearing center for refugees after the liberation of France by Allied forces.