Bethesda, MD Firm Likes San Fran Hotel

SAN FRANCISCO-Those who follow @GlobeStcom on Twitter and @GlobeStLIVE may have seen a post teasing the announcement, but GlobeSt.com has learned that Bethesda, MD-based Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. like San Francisco. According to the firm's Q4 report, it acquired the 151-room Powell Hotel in San Francisco, along with 8,554 square feet of retail space, and the fee simple interest in the land for $75 million.

The retail space is occupied by Sephora under a long-term lease. The company intends to invest approximately $22 million in an extensive redevelopment of the property beginning late 2014.

The property is located in the heart of downtown San Francisco, two blocks from Union Square and three blocks from the Moscone Convention Center. The hotel will be managed by Kokua Hospitality.

But the firm hasn't just been buying lately. As GlobeSt.com recently reported, Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. has sold an 89% stake in Philadelphia's largest hotel property—the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown—to Clearview Hotel Capital, LLC of Newport Beach, CA and funds managed by to Oaktree Capital Management LP of Dallas. The sale price translated to a gross equity value of $303.4 million or $217,000 per key.

According to a recent hospitality report from PWC, lodging's recovery continues, with strong demand growth and rising room rates. Construction activity remains below historical averages, but is picking up. The firm's outlook for 2014 anticipates: RevPAR growth of 6%, primarily driven by stronger ADR; demand growth of 2.4%; increased hotel construction starts, but supply growth of 1%, still well below the long-term average of 1.9%; accelerating gains in hotel pricing, with ADR rising 4.5% compared to 3.9% in 2013; strongest performance gains in the higher-priced chain-scale segments, particularly luxury.

"Our outlook assumes stronger economic growth, as fiscal headwinds ease and the underlying momentum of the recovery shows through. We assume GDP growth of 3.1% in 2014 (Q4/Q4 basis."