BY CONNIE LEWIS
San Clemente-based Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. has bought the W Hotel San Diego for $96 million.
Sunstone is buying the hip downtown hotel from union pension funds.
New York-based Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc., which owns the W brand and manages the hotel, owns 10% of the W Hotel San Diego.
Starwood is set to continue to manage the hotel for Sunstone.
Sunstone has been on an “aggressive acquisition spree,” said Alan Reay, who heads Atlas Hospitality Group, a Costa Mesa brokerage that publishes reports on hotel transactions.
Within the past year, Sunstone has spent $1.5 billion acquiring hotels, including the Hilton Times Square in New York, the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles and a portfolio of Renaissance hotels, including one in Long Beach.
In an earlier interview, Sunstone Chief Executive Bob Alter said the company is going after more luxury hotels.
“We want to continue to improve the quality of our properties, recycle equity in major markets, sell those in smaller markets and move toward the more upper upscale and luxury market,” he said.
The W San Diego, which doesn’t report occupancy rates, is “is one of the best performing hotels in downtown,” said Bob Rauch, president of the San Diego Hotel-Motel Association and co-owner of the Homewood Suites by Hilton San Diego/Del Mar.
“It is unique,” Rauch said. “It has a niche as a high-end boutique hotel that is attractive to hip, high-spending Gen Xers.”
Lewis is a staff writer with the San Diego Business Journal.
