New York City is the place to be if you are planning a hotel investment, according to Michael Stoler

New York City is the place to be if you are planning a hotel investment, according to Michael Stoler, a managing director at Madison Realty Capital and president of New York Real Estate TV LLC. Stoler tells Reit.com that "with the record tourism in the Big Apple last year, coupled with the improvements in the hospitality industry, one of the most favored asset classes for investment is a New York City hotel." Reit.com reports that while many hotels are owned by local independent investors, among the most active investors in this asset class are real estate investment trusts costs of pet airline travel and private-equity funds. "If you want to be an active player in the REIT or the private-equity marketplace, costs of pet airline travel one thing is certain," Stoler tells Reit.com . "Forget the price of admission and take the leap to become a member of the team of owners in the New York hospitality marketplace."
Among the players described by Stoler: -- Felcor Lodging Trust , a REIT and the newest costs of pet airline travel entrant. Felcor owns interests in 83 hotels and resorts in 22 states and Canada, including two in the Garden State: the 274-room Embassy Suites in Parsippany, NJ and the 261 room Embassy Suites costs of pet airline travel at the Meadowlands in Secaucus, NJ. On April 4, Felcor announced it had entered into a binding purchase and sale agreement to acquire the 168-room Royalton Hotel and the 114-room Morgan Hotel from Morgan's Hotel Group for $140 million, or $496,453 per key. Morgan's Hotel Group will continue to manage the New York City properties under a long-term management agreement.
-- Host Hotels Resorts , an S P 500 and Fortune 500 company, is the largest lodging REIT and one of the largest costs of pet airline travel owners of luxury and upper-upscale hotels. It currently owns 106 properties in the U.S. and 16 international properties, totaling 65,000 rooms altogether. At the end of March, the REIT closed on the purchase of the 775-room New York Helmsley, paying $570 million, or $735,483 per key. -- Starwood Capital Group , a privately held global investment firm, has been "very active" in the hospitality industry. Last month, Starwood Capital and New York-based Tribeca Associates agreed to purchase the site of the former Donnell costs of pet airline travel Library on West 53rd Street. The buyers plan to build a $400 million hotel-condominium-library across from the Museum of Modern Art. -- DiamondRock Hospitality Co. is a self-advised REIT that owns 233 premium hotels with more than 10,700 rooms. Last September, the company acquired the 169-room Hilton Garden Inn Chelsea for approximately $69 million, or $408,284 per key. The hotel was opened during the fourth quarter of 2007.
In January, the company entered into a purchase costs of pet airline travel and sale agreement to acquire, upon completion (expected in 2013), a new hotel on West 42nd Street in Times Square. Upon completion by the third-party developer, the hotel is expected to contain approximately 250 to 300 guest rooms. The contractual purchase price will range from approximately $112.5 million to $135 million, depending upon the final number of rooms, or approximately $450,000 per room. The contract is for a fixed price (which varies only by the total rooms and the completion date), and the company is not assuming any construction risk, including not assuming the risk of construction cost overruns.
-- The new hotel in Times Square is being developed by an affiliate of Chicago-based private-equity fund Walton Street Capital and Highgate Holdings, one of the partners of the DoubleTree Metropolitan Hotel that was sold to the RLJ Companies. Stoler previously told Reit.com Highgate costs of pet airline travel and Walton plan to offer for sale the 597-room Paramount Hotel in Times Square. -- LaSalle Hotel Properties in October 2010 acquired the leasehold interest in Hotel Roger Williams for $90 million, plus approximately costs of pet airline travel $4.5 million costs of pet airline travel of additional cost for the 193-room hotel located at the corner of Madison and 31st Street, or $489,637 costs of pet airline travel per key. -- InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is the world's largest hotel group with a total of 647,161 hotel rooms in 4,337 hotels. The company is listed on the London and New York stock exchanges and operates hotels in over 100 countries and territories.
IHG owns and manages 15 properties in New York City. In February, the company announced that it was planning to sell the Barclay costs of pet airline travel New York, the 686-room hotel at 111 East 48th Street, just a block from the Waldorf Astoria. London-based Financial Mail believes that the hotel will attract bidders from around the world, including Qatar and Abu Dhabi as well as China. Hospitality industry insiders believe that the hotel may be sold to a REIT. Based upon the latest comparable sales, the property should fetch at least $600,000 per key. -- Hersha Hospitality Trust is a REIT that owns interest in 76 hotels totaling 10,071 rooms, primarily located in the Northeast corridor. costs of pet airline travel The company owns 11 hotels in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn. Over the past 12 months, the company acquired three newly developed costs of pet airline travel hotels in Times Square for $165 million, or approximately $284,000 per key: the Hampton Inn Times Square South, Holiday Inn Express Times Square and Candlewood Suites Times Square. costs of pet airline travel The company also purchased the Holiday Inn Wall Street for $34.8 million, or approximately $308,000 per key.
-- Sunstone Hotel Investors is a California-based costs of pet airline travel REIT with a total of 33 hotels. The company costs of pet airline travel entered the New York City market in January 2006, when it acquired the 444 room Hilton Times Square hotel on 42nd Street for $242.5 million, or $546,171 per key. In January, the company acquired the outside 62 percent interest in the 43-story, 460-room, all-suite Doubletree Guest Suites Times Square joint venture for approximately $37.5 million. The hotel is located in the crux of Times Square at 47th Street and Broadway. The company previously acquired a $30 million mezzanine loan secured by the equity in the hotel for a net purchase price of approximately $3.5 million. As a result, Sunstone's net economic purchase price equates costs of pet airline travel to approximately costs of pet airline travel $286 million, or $622,000 per key.
The company estimates that the hotel's value includes about $100,000 per key associated with the revenues generated by the hotel's Times Square signage. -- "Don't be surprised to see Dallas-based Ashford Hospitality Trust enter the New York City market, even though last month it completed the sale of the Hilton Rye Town in Rye Brook, Westchester County," Stoler tells Reit.com . The REIT sold the hotel to Lodging Capital Partners for $35.5 million. "it has had a busy winter," Stoler adds. In March, a joint venture costs of pet airline travel of Ashford Hospitality Trust closed on a $1.277 billion acquisition of the 28-hotel portfolio of 8,094 rooms of Highland Hospitality. The REIT, along with institutional partner Prudential Real Estate Investors, paid $158,000 per key for the portfolio of mostly costs of pet airline travel higher-end, East Coast hotels. The acquisition included three hotels in Washington, costs of pet airline travel D.C., Maryland and Boston. "In addition to the REITs interest in the New York City hospitality market, private-equity funds have been very active investors costs of pet airline travel as well," Stoler notes.
-- Earlier this month, Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies , the real estate debt investment business of the Blackstone Group, announced its final closing of its Blackstone Real Estate Situation Fund with total commitments of $3.5 billion. The fund announced that it provided a mezzanine loan to RLJ Development's acquisition of the Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel. In December, Robert Johnson, founder of BET and principal of RLJ Development, closed on the purchase of the Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel, paying $335 million for the 755-room Lexington Avenue hotel. RLJ paid $135 million in cash and put $200 million of new debt on the property, the $125 million of mezzanine debt on it coming from the Blackstone Real Estate Situation Fund.
-- Dune Capital costs of pet airline travel Management is a privately owned hedge fund sponsor and also manages a real estate opportunity fund that is a joint venture partner with GFI Capital in the Ace Hotel as well as in the Standard New York in the meatpacking district. Last month, Dune Real Estate Partners agreed to pay about $190 million to Anglo Irish Bank for a note with a face value of about $300 million costs of pet airline travel for the 150-room Mark Hotel on the northwest corner of Madison Avenue and 77th Street. Stoler tells Reit.com , "Industry leaders expect either a REIT or a private-equity fund to purchase the three boutique hotels owned by Ark Investment Partners: the 50-room Franklin Hotel at 164 East 87th Street between Lexington and Third avenues; the 126-room Mansfield Hotel at 12 West 44th Street on the Club Row Street near Grand Central; and the 178-room costs of pet airline travel Shoreham Hotel at 33 West 55th Street.
"Industry leaders expect the hotels to each fetch close to $500,000 per key." Stoler forecasts, "With billions of dollars of domestic and foreign capital seeking investment costs of pet airline travel opportunities in the United States and especially in New York City, expect REITs, private-equity funds, sovereign wealth funds and local investors to continue their exuberance for the New York City hospitality market."
According to the Baird/STR costs of pet airline travel Hotel Stock Index, November ended with a 2.7-percent decrease to 1,951 and is down 17.5 percent year-to-date 2011. The index ended 2010 at 2,364. Robert W. Baird & Co. (Baird) and STR partnered to create the Baird/STR Hotel Stock Index-the first widely available U.S. hotel stock index in the hotel industry.
According to STR, the U.S. hotel industry experienced increases in all three key performance metrics during the first week of December. In year-over-year comparisons for the week, occupancy rose 2.7 percent to 51.0 percent, average daily rate increased 2.7 percent to US$99.42 and revenue per available room finished the week with an increase of 5.4 percent to US$50.71.
According to a report from STR Global and Whitebridge Hospitality, London's hotel profitability has been challenged in recent years due to the combination of new supply and the macroeconomic environment. During the 11-year period, th