HOTEL SALES
Radisson Newport Beach Tops 2003 Hotel Sales at $21 Million
By SANDI CAIN
Orange County hotel sales in 2003 were flat for a fourth consecutive year, with 28 changing hands for a total value of $138 million.
The number of sales is up one from 2002 but identical to results in 2000 and 2001. Data was provided by Costa Mesa-based market tracker Atlas Hospitality Group.
Topping the list based on price was the 339-room Radisson Newport Beach near MacArthur Boulevard and Birch Street. Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based Larken Inc. sold the Radisson to Beverly Hills-based Elite Properties Realty for $21 million.
The Radisson ranked No. 26 on the Business Journal’s most recent list of largest OC hotels by number of rooms and holds the same rank among the county’s largest hotels ranked by meeting space. The Radisson has 17,104 square feet of indoor meeting space.
The hotel opened in 1964 and operated under the Sheraton name until June 2000, when it converted to a Radisson and undertook a $2 million to $3 million renovation.
The second-largest sale in Orange County was the Residence Inn Cypress, which Marriott International Inc. sold for $19 million to Apple Hospitality Two of Richmond, Va., in May. The real estate investment trust specializes in extended stay properties under the Residence Inn by Marriott and Homewood Suites by Hilton brands.
Apple Hospitality owns 66 hotels in 25 states, with nine in California, the most in any one state. In OC, it also owns the Residence Inn Costa Mesa on West Baker Street.
Taking third-place honors was the Anaheim Palms Fullerton, a 290-room hotel that sold for $11.3 million.
The top three sales in 2003 accounted for more than a third of the $138 million total.
About half the sales were for less than $5 million each. The average sales price was $5.3 million.
The median price per room for 2003 sales was $53,244, down 5.9% from a year ago, with the Residence Inn Cypress fetching top dollar at $122,541 per room at the 155-suite hotel.
The second-highest price per room was $121,429 for the 21-room Tides of Laguna Beach, an aging motel that sold for $2.5 million. The high price tag largely is a result of the strength of the Laguna Beach market and its location just four blocks from Main Beach and the heart of town.
The lowest price-per-room was $35,294 for the 68-room Palm Inn Buena Park on Beach Boulevard near Knott’s Berry Farm.
Only 10 of the hotels sold in the county in 2003 had more than 100 rooms, with the balance falling largely in the motel category.
Anaheim had the most sales with seven, followed by Buena Park with four, Fullerton and Santa Ana with three each, two in San Clemente and one each in nine other cities.
The largest sale in Anaheim was the 163-suite Staybridge Suites Anaheim Resort, which opened in summer 2001 as part of a $37 million project on six acres on Manchester Avenue built by Irvine-based R.D. Olson Development.
Olson subsequently sold the hotel,along with its neighboring Holiday Inn,to Six Continents Hotels, now the Intercontinental Hotel Group of Berkshire, England.
Last summer, Intercontinental sold 16 Staybridge Suites to Newton, Mass.-based Hospitality Property Trust for $185 million.
That portfolio included the Anaheim property.
Hospitality Property Trust, a real estate investment trust, owns 31 Staybridge Suites, all managed by Intercontinental.
Among its California properties are two Staybridge Suites in San Diego, one in Chatsworth and one in Torrance.
