Blackstone acquires 3 Florida hotels from RLJ for $43.2M

Hospitality industry power-player Blackstone Group has acquired three Florida hotels from an affiliate of RLJ Lodging Trust for $43.2 million, according to The Real Deal. The purchased properties, all Marriott brands, are located in Broward County near Fort Lauderdale.

Blackstone purchased the adjacent 125-room Courtyard by Marriott Fort Lauderdale SW/Miramar and 130-room Residence Inn by Marriott Fort Lauderdale SW/Miramar, as well as the 138-room Residence Inn by Marriott Fort Lauderdale Plantation. All three hotels include an outdoor pool, fitness center and meeting space.

The transaction comes on the heels of two other RLJ sales, that of the 385-room Hilton Myrtle Beach Resort and the 255-room Embassy Suites by Hilton Myrtle Beach Oceanfront Resort. The REIT sold the two South Carolina hotels for $156 million to an undisclosed buyer. Based on the trailing 12 months ending in May, the sales price represented a 12.9x earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization multiple and 6.7 percent capitalization rate, inclusive of $44.5 million in planned capital expenditures, according to the report.

Internationally, Blackstone is in talks to sell a portfolio of Center Parcs Europe vacation resorts to German real-estate company Aroundtown SA for an estimated $1.1 billion, according to Bloomberg. Blackstone had originally acquired the resorts for about €630 million in 2006 from Pierre & Vacances, a Paris-based company that owns and operates other Center Parcs sites in continental Europe.