American Hotel Income Properties REIT, a real estate investment trust based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, acquired four Marriott-branded hotels, two in Chattanooga, Tenn.; one in Lake City, Fla.; and one in Jacksonville, Fla.
The four properties were purchased for a combined $47 million, and the REIT plans on investing in them for future upgrades. The hotels were all developed by 3H Group of Chattanooga, which sold nine hotels in the past year. 3H continues to own 13 hotels and is building a further six.
Currently, $2.8 million is set aside for brand-mandated property improvement plans at all four properties. Kevin Cleveland, GM of the 109-room Residence Inn at Hamilton Place in Chattanooga, said in a statement that all staff will remain, and the hotel will be operated by One Hospitality Group of Scottsdale, Ariz.
"Our property is in pretty good shape, but there is going to be a renovation project in the next 12 months to keep the facility as modern and up to date as possible," Cleveland said in a statement.
Mortgage financing for the new hotels will be arranged by American Hotel Income Properties over the next 30 days, which will consist of a new commercial mortgage backed securities loan with a 10-year term and a fixed interest rate of roughly 4.5 percent. The company now has 84 hotels totaling 7,493 guestrooms.