Foxworthy reports that the execs, doing business as HuntingtonHospitality Group, paid $6.4 million for the property at thesoutheast corner of Lindero Canyon and Russell Ranch roads.Foxworthy says the buyers plan to build a four-story hotel and willremarket two restaurant pad sites on the property, withconstruction expected to begin this quarter and be completed inlate summer 2005. Foxworthy represented the seller of thedevelopment site, Richland Lindero Ltd., with the buyersrepresented by David G. Smith.

Demand for hotel space remains strong in Westlake Village andthe rest of the Conejo Valley because of the presence ofcorporations such as Amgen, Baxter and Countrywide, notesFoxworthy, who says a substantial number of executives visit thosecompanies and others on business and remain for extended stays.

The new Marriott will be under construction at a time when thenumber of new hotel rooms opening in most Southern Californiacounties is decreasing and the number of new rooms being planned isalso declining, according to a recent survey from Costa Mesa-basedAtlas Hospitality Group. The survey, which tracked new hotel roomsopened, under construction and being planned throughout Californiafor the first half of 2004, showed that Los Angeles was the onlycounty where the number of new rooms opened was higher for thefirst half of 2004 than it was for the first half of 2003. Alan X.Reay, president of Atlas, says the slowing pace of construction andplanning of new rooms should bode well for hotel owners as itminimizes new competition and as such points to higher long-termprofitability.