NEW YORK—Carey Watermark Investors Incorporated (CWI) announced that it has acquired the Westin Pasadena hotel. The full-service hotel includes 350 guestrooms and is located in downtown Pasadena, Calif. The acquisition price was $142.5 million.
The Westin Pasadena is a Four Diamond AAA-rated hotel located within the Plaza Las Fuentes, a mixed-use complex with a 178,000 square-foot office building and 15,000 square feet of retail space, including two restaurants. The hotel features Spanish architecture highlighted by a dramatic façade, courtyard garden, and sculptured fountains.
The hotel is in close proximity to Pasadena’s many attractions and demand generators, including the Pasadena Convention Center, Civic Auditorium, Rose Bowl, and Paseo Colorado shopping and entertainment center. The property also benefits from its proximity to the strong corporate base in downtown Los Angeles, which is 10 miles from the hotel.
The Pasadena market contains more than 7 million square feet of office space and is home to the famed Rose Bowl and Rose Parade, which attracts more htan 730,000 spectators and contributes an annual economic impact of more than $300 million. Pasadena also benefits from an emerging and improving group market, the result of a $150 million expansion and renovation of the Pasadena Convention Center, which was completed in 2009.
The total $158 million investment includes the $142.5 million purchase price, as well as approximately $15.5 million of planned capital expenditures and other acquisition-related costs.
CWI will implement an extensive renovation of the guestrooms through a full replacement of the soft and case goods throughout the guestrooms and corridors. Further, various other value-add projects throughout the hotel will be completed in conjunction with the renovation.
The hotel will continue to be managed by HEI Hotels & Resorts. HEI currently manages the Westin Minneapolis, Sheraton Austin at the Capitol, and the Boca Raton Marriott at Boca Center for CWI.
“CWI’s investment in the Westin Pasadena represented the opportunity to secure a well-located asset that benefits from the overall strength of the Southern California lodging market,” said Michael Medzigian, chief executive officer of CWI. “The Four Diamond property generates attractive cash-flow and we believe that it will continue to benefit from the diverse corporate and leisure attractions in the area. Our ability to acquire a high quality well-positioned asset in a strong market adds additional market diversity as well as solid long-term cash generating capability to our portfolio.”
