The Sheraton Anaheim,one of Orange County’s oldest and largest hotels,signed Modesto’s Rim Hospitality to manage the 489-room hotel.
Tokyo-based Ken Real Estate Lease Ltd., a unit of Ken Corp., bought the Sheraton Anaheim early this year. The company owns about a dozen hotels in Japan, according to Rim Chief Executive Mark Burden, and is looking to invest more here.
The Sheraton is Ken’s first hotel in Southern California.
In 2003, previous hotel owner Pacific Islandia California Inc., filed for bankruptcy protection in a dispute with the hotel’s lender, Littleton, Colo.-based MONY Realty Capital Inc., part of New York’s MONY Group Inc.
Burden said the new owners paid off the existing loans as part of the roughly $25 million acquisition.
The hotel has more than 20,000 square feet of recently renovated meeting space and is set to undergo a renovation to the guest rooms and public areas in the next few months.
The deal gives Rim its first full-service hotel in OC and reflects the company’s gradual move to larger, full-service hotels.
It also manages the 200-room Residence Inn Anaheim and 18 other hotels in Central and Northern California, including the Sheraton Petaluma.
“This is the full-service anchor we’ve been looking for in Southern California,” Burden said
“To be competitive in Anaheim, you need more than 200 rooms,” he said.
The Sheraton brand is owned by White Plains, N.Y.-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts.
“Having another Starwood hotel in our portfolio is a real plus,” Burden said.
