Wyndham, Westbrook Close First Phase for $448M Sale

DALLAS-Wyndham International Inc. has closed the first leg to a $448-million sale of 13 hotels to Westbrook Hotel Partners IV LLC. The second closing will take place before the year ends. The word from the Wyndham camp, though, is to stay tuned because another closing could be coming shortly after the New Year begins, GlobeSt.com is told.

The Wyndham spokeswoman isn’t saying where or who, but did confirm there’s another closing coming “in the near future.” In fact, Westbrook could be up to bat again since it was indicated earlier this year that the Boston-based hotelier was looking at more of Wyndham’s remaining 35 hotels on the “to go” list.

In yesterday’s $345-million closing, Westbrook collected deeds to 11 hotels of various flags. In the coming weeks, $103 million will buy the Embassy Suites Chicago Wyndham and Wyndham Greenspoint Houston, the sole hotel bearing the seller’s flag under a 10-year franchise agreement. In all, 4,125 rooms are being rolled into the Westbrook portfolio. The San Clemente, CA-based Sunstone Hotel Investors LLC has held onto the contracts to manage or asset manage the “baker’s dozen.”

On the Wyndham side of the transaction, the spokeswoman confided there is some debt that must be paid, but the bulk of the capital will be applied to the hotelier’s outstanding debt, now hovering at $3 billion. Since 1998, Wyndham has sold $1.4 billion in non-strategic assets in a plan to grow through proprietary branding focused on the Wyndham name.

Westbrook’s new holdings consist of Marriott facilities in Vienna, VA, Houston, West Conshohocken, PA and Troy, MI; Hilton hotels in Del Mar, CA and Melville, NY; Radisson hotels in Englewood, NJ and Williamsburg, VA; and a Doubletree Suites in Minneapolis and Valley River Inn in Eugene, OR.

Westbrook Partners Real Estate Fund IV formed a special buying LLC to complete the transaction. Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. and JPMorgan Securities Inc. served as Wyndham’s financial advisers.