JV Airs Post-Sale Plan For $680M Hotel Deal

DALLAS-In another public to private play, Eagle Hospitality Properties Trust Inc. has closed on its $680-million sale to Apollo Real Estate Investment Fund V LP, Aimbridge Hospitality LP and JF Capital Advisors LLC. The plan calls for keeping Eagle’s name intact and maintaining the REIT status.

The 4.5-year-old Aimbridge has marked its largest acquisition to date, doubling its room count with the take-over of the Covington, KY-based REIT’s 13-hotel portfolio in nine states and Puerto Rico. AP Aimcap Holdings LLC, the buyer of record, is investing another $37 million to upgrade the hotels, all of which will be keeping their Marriott, Embassy Suites, Hilton and Hyatt flags through new long-term agreements. Renovations have begun; completions are penciled for the end of first quarter 2008.

David Johnson, Aimbridge’s president and CEO, tells GlobeSt.com that the JV isn’t planning to flip any of Eagle’s real estate although would-be buyers are already knocking on the doors of the New York City-based and Dallas-based partners. “Initially, nothing was for sale, but we have been approached by potential buyers,” he confides. “We’ve now said ‘make us an offer.’”