The property’s brokerage firm reported that it has lined up a regional buyer, and that the hotel will remain a Marriott. Strategic Hotels has also hired a bank to seek a buyer for the whole company, with shareholder Bill Gates saying he would be interested in “being a party to a transaction involving the acquisition.”
Strategic Hotels & Resorts is putting the Lincolnshire (Ill.) Marriott Resort up for sale after deciding that the 389-room property doesn’t fit with its high-end hotel portfolio, Crain’s Chicago Business reported.
Executives at the Chicago-based real estate investment trust told analysts that the company had hired a broker to sell the Lincolnshire hotel. Strategic also said it took a $10.4 million impairment charge in the second quarter to write down the value of the hotel on its balance sheet, Crain’s reported.
As it courts buyers for the Lincolnshire hotel, Strategic could be poised to pull off an even bigger deal: the sale of the whole company. The REIT has hired a bank to seek a buyer for the company. Strategic already has attracted interest from a shareholder, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who said in a federal filing yesterday that he would be interested in “being a party to a transaction involving the acquisition” of Strategic, Crain’s reported.
Strategic, whose local hotels include the Fairmont near Millennium Park and the InterContinental on North Michigan Avenue, has a market capitalization of $3.6 billion. The company has declined to comment on the reports of a potential sale, calling them “market rumors,” Crain’s reported.
Strategic hired Jameson & Co., a Downers Grove-based hotel brokerage, to sell the Lincolnshire and has already lined up a buyer, Crain’s reported.
“The marketing campaign produced solid interest from regional and national hospitality investors,” John Jameson, president and managing broker of Jameson, said in an email. “We are currently working with a regional buyer and the hotel will remain a Marriott upon closing.”
Strategic, which has owned Lincolnshire since 1997, had considered a sale of the hotel for a long time. The complex includes a theater and 18-hole golf course. Yet it’s Strategic’s cheapest hotel, with an average daily room rate of $142.63 in the first half of the year, versus $305.73 for the company’s 18-hotel portfolio overall, according to the REIT’s earnings report.
At the end of 2014, Strategic carried the Lincolnshire on its balance sheet at a value of $54.2 million, implying the company thinks the property is worth about $44 million after the impairment charge, Crain’s reported.
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