JV Buys Landmark Hotel for $48M-Plus

ATLANTA-A joint venture of locally based Noble Investment Group and Boston-based AEW Capital Management LP has acquired the 467-room Sheraton Colony Square hotel in Midtown for $48.5 million. Following a $50-million renovation, the landmark hotel will be converted into a W Hotel in late 2007.

The hotel is located at Peachtree Road and 14th Street, adjacent to Piedmont Park. The 28-story hotel is part of a mixed-use development and sits across the street from the new 670,000-sf Hines office tower. “The primary reason we chose to acquire the property is it’s location,” Noble Investment Group vice president strategic investments Adi Bhoopathy tells GlobeSt.com. “Midtown is where most of the new high-end development has been taking place. Another reason was the property’s inherent real estate value.”

The property was acquired from White Plains-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., which operates the W line of hotels. Starwood will continue to manage the property, under a separate agreement reached with the buyers. “As part of our ‘asset right’ strategy, Starwood continues to look for opportunities to churn our real estate portfolio and this is an ideal situation whereby we are able to work with a trusted, longtime partner who will maximize the value of this asset,” Starwood Hotels & Resorts CEO Steven Heyer says.

The property will be renamed W Atlanta-Midtown. There is another W hotel in Atlanta at 111 Perimeter Center West, but it is located in a suburban area of Atlanta and is atypical of the W line of hotels, Bhoopathy says.

To convert the hotel into a W, a near gut renovation of the property will occur. The project is currently in the design phase. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2007. As part of its conversion to a W Hotel, the property will include three food and beverage outlets; a spa; 36,000 sf of meeting, banquet and pre-function space including a ballroom and a full-service business center.