It's a Wrap for Harbour Lights Hotel Sale

SAN DIEGO-In a deal valued at $8.65 million, American Property Management has purchased the 59-room Harbour Lights Resort from Sunterra Corp. Harry Pflueger and Richard Carlson, managing directors in Insignia/ESG Hotel Partners’ Newport Beach office, oversaw the marketing and disposition of the asset.

The Harbour Lights Resort is located in the Downtown Gas Lamp Quarter. The property captures a significant share of the area’s leisure demand while still appealing to convention attendees, Insignia officials say.

The Downtown hotel market has shown significant improvement in performance over the past several years as the city continues to diversify its economy. With the emergence of the new convention center and new baseball field, the outlook is positive for this area.

“This was an especially challenging transaction,” says Pflueger. “The Harbour Lights opened last year as a timeshare property, but due to the timing of Sunterra’s fiscal restructuring, the property was able to be sold as a hotel without any timeshare encumbrances.”

However, lack of a financial performance made financing the acquisition “a real challenge” for prospective purchasers,” he adds.

American Property Management recently relocated from Albuquerque to San Diego and intends to position the property as an upscale boutique hotel.

The Harbour Lights Resort is one of more than 20 assets for which Insignia/ESG Hotel Partners has been acting as Sunterra’s exclusive broker. As part of its ongoing reorganization, Sunterra has designated these non-strategic assets for disposition. Cash proceeds from the sales will be used to support the firm’s reorganization, the repayment of debt and will allow Sunterra to invest in its core properties, operations, systems and product development.