An arm of Barry Sternlicht's investment firm Starwood Capital has sold Edinburgh's Bonham Hotel to a U.S. investment firm led by fund manager Richard Driehaus for an undisclosed sum. JLL acted on behalf of Starwood Capital Group for the off-market sale of the Drumsheugh Gardens boutique hotel, The Scotsman is reporting.
Starwood Capital purchased the 49-room Bonham Hotel in 2015 as part of the Town House Collection, which included the Blythswood Hotel in Glasgow. The hotel spans three Georgian townhouses and has a bar, a restaurant and an 18-space parking lot. The group has planned to add five more bedrooms, which are subject to planning permission. The hotel was originally a row of homes built in 1775 before it was converted into a hotel In 1881.
Richard Driehaus is the founder, chief investment officer and chairman of Driehaus Capital Management, which is based in Chicago. Driehaus founded the company in 1982. It has $8.7 billion in assets under management as of May 31, 2017.
Kerr Young, of JLL’s hotels and hospitality group, told The Scotsman, “It is no surprise that the sale of The Bonham attracted significant interest from both domestic and international buyers, having long been regarded as one of Edinburgh’s most stylish and iconic hotels. Edinburgh currently boasts the strongest UK hotel market outside of London, with a thriving corporate, finance, tech and leisure market, attracting 35 million visitors each year creating almost $1.5 billion in revenue. This combination of factors provided a compelling investment proposition.”
The Bonham Hotel currently operates under Starwood Capital's Principal brand, which launched in November 2016. The creation of the new brand was part of Starwood’s rebranding of its UK hotel portfolio under The Principal Hotel, which includes the brands Principal and De Vere. The Principal portfolio includes Principal Partners, which are iconic hotels that are set to join the brand between 2017 and 2018. These include The Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow and The Hotel Russell in London, which is currently closed and will reopen this fall as The Principal London. The former Martins Bank will also be added to the group in early 2018 as The Principal Liverpool.