Aliso Viejo-based hotel investor Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. is buying the rest of a Times Square hotel it owns part of and plans to spend $1 billion buying other hotels this year.
Sunstone, which owns all or part of 32 hotels across the country, is buying the remaining 62% of the 460-room Doubletree Guest Suites Times Square for $37.5 million.
The deal follows an executive shakeup in December that saw former chief executive Art Buser leave because of what Sunstone said was a lack of buying on his watch.
Sunstone and others are under the gun to acquire hotels before a brewing industry turnaround drives up prices.
The company plans to go after upscale hotels of 400 rooms or larger, Kenneth Cruse, Sunstone’s president and chief financial officer, told Bloomberg.
Sunstone also reaffirmed its fourth-quarter profit outlook.
It projects adjusted funds from operations—a profit measure of real estate owners—of $14.8 million to $18.7 million.
Analysts expect a profit of $17.7 million on average.
In November, Sunstone braced Wall Street for a profit that at the time was below expectations. Analysts earlier were looking for a quarterly profit of $22.4 million.
Sunstone’s fourth-quarter revenue per available room—or sales from rooms available to guests during the quarter—rose nearly 6% from a year earlier, the company said.
