Newbond Holdings, a real estate investment and operating platform, has acquired the Westin Tampa Waterside hotel in partnership with investment funds managed by an affiliate of Apollo Global Management. According to the Tampa Bay Times, the hotel changed hands for $67.5 million, up 60 percent from when Walton Street Capital purchased the hotel from Blackstone Group in 2016.
Newbond and the Apollo Funds acquired the 309-room property through a long-term direct relationship with the seller. Building on a recent $17 million renovation, the Newbond/Apollo Funds’ joint venture aims to take advantage of the Westin Tampa Waterside’s central location as well as the broader resurgence of the Tampa market, according to the company.
“In forming Newbond, we envisioned a best-in-class institutional investment platform focused on hotels and hospitality-related operating companies and technologies,” said Neil Luthra, Newbond co-founder. ”The Westin Tampa Waterside exemplifies our targeted hotel investments, bringing our team’s expertise to a high-quality institutional asset in a dynamically growing market.”
“We are excited by the opportunity to enhance an asset that benefits from an irreplaceable urban waterfront location in a high barrier-to-entry market with attractive long-term demand growth, and highly favorable demographic trends,” said Vann Avedisian, Newbond co-founder.
“Our investment in the Westin Tampa Waterside is in line with our positive long-term outlook on the broader Tampa market, where we are acquiring high-quality real estate at a significant discount to replacement cost,” said Dan Kwon, a partner in Apollo Real Estate. “We are excited about cementing our strategic partnership with Newbond through this transaction and working together to bring the hotel to its full potential.”
The Westin Tampa Waterside is located directly across Garrison Channel from Water Street Tampa, a $3 billion, 53-acre redevelopment that calls for 3,500 new residential units, a cultural arts pavilion, 1 million square feet of retail and cultural spaces and 2 million square feet of offices space. Additionally, the property is a short walk from the Tampa Convention Center and Amalie Arena and steps away from Tampa’s new Riverwalk, a 2.6-mile elevated boardwalk that connects riverfront parks, museums, attractions and businesses.