WOODLAND HILLS, Calif.—Laurus Corporation, a U.S.-based private real estate investment and development firm, has acquired the Marriott Warner Center hotel in Woodland Hills, Calif.
Woodland Hills is located in the heart of Los Angeles County’s San Fernando Valley region, an area that accounts for nearly 50 percent of the City of Los Angeles’ residents. In addition to a large and growing population, the Valley also boasts an extremely diverse economy, including corporate demand driven by the entertainment, financial services, education, health care, and insurance sectors, as well as aerospace/defense and high-technology firms.
The Marriott Warner Center enjoys visibility and convenient access to the Ventura (101) Freeway, in an area that has been dubbed the “101 Technology Corridor” due to the recent development and growth of technology companies in the region. The hotel is located in the center of the pre-planned Woodland Hills/Warner Center development, a corporate hub with more than 10.3 million square feet of office space. In addition, the hotel is directly adjacent to the 614,400-square-foot Westfield Promenade mall and the 1.6 million square-foot Westfield Topanga Shopping Center. Furthermore, its location is convenient to numerous Los Angeles landmarks and attractions, such as Universal Studios/Universal CityWalk, the Getty Center, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, California State University Northridge, Pepperdine University, and Six Flags Magic Mountain.
The 16-story, full-service hotel, features 474 guestrooms, four food and beverage outlets, including a signature restaurant, and more than 28,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space. With its 11,000-square-foot Grand Ballroom, the hotel boasts the largest overall meeting space capacity and ballroom in the area.
“The acquisition of Marriott Warner Center is another step forward executing Laurus’ focused investment strategy—seeking prime value-add opportunities requiring complex structuring, active management, repositioning, and significant renovation opportunities,” said Phil Cyburt, chief executive officer of Laurus Corporation. “With the influx of new businesses and expansion of corporate campuses in the area, along with the Valley’s projected 3.5 percent population growth over the next four years, there is tremendous opportunity to maximize the asset’s ability to generate revenues in both the corporate and leisure segments.”
“The Marriott Warner Center is a prime business hotel in one of the country’s top gateway markets, and Woodland Hills in particular continues to enjoy robust demand from the multitude of corporate headquarters and mission-critical offices located in the area. Coupled with Laurus’ ability to consistently execute on value-add business plans and achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns, this acquisition represented an ideal opportunity to allocate capital from Laurus’ private equity platform, Ethika Investments,” added Douglas Kiel, chief financial of Laurus Corporation.
“The hotel’s guests will benefit from a $10 million renovation that will refresh the public areas and guestrooms and enhance the hotel’s abundant amenities. Our firm places substantial importance on maximizing guest satisfaction through improving the physical appeal of the asset, providing exemplary service, enhancing the dining experience and being responsive to guest needs, down to the smallest details,” said Officer Jean Paul Szita, president of Laurus Corporation.
