We had reported earlier that this year will witness and increased activity in sales of hotels in the US. The value of transactions in hotels has exceeded the total value achieved last year in the first few months itself. Now the Fairmont San Francisco hotel is up for sale. The 591 room luxury hotel is located in the city’s Nob Hill neighborhood. The announcement was made by Heather Turner, vice president of acquisitions at Maritz, Wolff & Co., its co-owner. Hodges Ward Elliott Inc., an Atlanta-based brokerage has been commissioned to market the property.
The listing of the property will not be done in the traditional way as it will not have an asking price. The property is owned jointly by Maritz Wolff and Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal with both holding 50% each. The owners had been intending to convert a portion of the hotel into a residential tower but the required city permission could not be obtained. Flip Maritz had first hinted in April that Maritz Wolff was considering selling the property, in which the company acquired its stake in 1998.
Maritz Wolff hopes that a new ownership will be able to implement the improvements at the hotel. The company plans to return $500 million to investors over the next four years. In the process they have cut down the number of hotels in its portfolio to just nine. They had almost 50 hotels just a decade ago. The firm had acquired the Fairmont San Francisco as a package deal which included several other Fairmont hotels including properties in Dallas and New Orleans. The other hotels were sold off during the years 2006 and 2007. We shall be reporting any development as and when it happens.
Via: bloomberg
