FelCor Taps JLL Hotels for Portfolio Sale

IRVING, TX-FelCor Lodging Trust Inc. is debuting the first bundle of 33 hotels ticketed to go over the next three years, hiring Jones Lang LaSalle’s New York City hotel group to steer the sale of the five properties, with 894 rooms, in secondary markets of Ohio, New York and Arizona.

Just about every hotel broker in the nation was knocking on FelCor’s door for the marketing rights, Michael A. DeNicola, FelCor’s executive vice president and chief investment officer, tells GlobeSt.com. In hooking the deal, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels is marking its first sales contract with the Irving, TX-based REIT.

In mid-February, FelCor announced plans to sell the non-strategic assets. The first five on the “to go” list are classified good performers, but older properties, with some in markets that are no longer on the REIT’s “hot” list.

The Hilton-managed package contains two Doubletree Guest Suites flags and three Embassy Suites hotels. A 194-suite Doubletree is being sold in Columbus and a 137-one in Dayton, OH. The Embassy grouping consists of 215 suites in Syracuse, NY; the 229-suite Embassy Phoenix-Airport; and 119-suite Embassy-Flagstaff.

The FelCor-Hilton agreement provides that properties can be sold “free and clear of management.” The three Embassy flags are encumbered by the franchise as is the Columbus Doubletree banner, DeNicola says.

“All the properties are located in strong regional, drive-to markets,” Thomas Fisher, senior vice president of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, said in a press release. And all, he added, “are RevPAR leaders for their competitive sets and markets.” He and Art Buser, managing director and head of the West Coast operations, are handling the sale in conjunction with Art Adler, managing director and CEO-Americas for Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels.

DeNicola says the no-minimum ask package most likely will be picked up by multiple investors in one-off deals or geographical groupings rather than one check for the whole shebang. He says the no-minimum is a break away from prior FelCor offerings and there’s no discount for a portfolio buy. “Our goal is to get the highest price,” he says. “We want to see what price they’re willing to pay.”

The marketplace has ample debt and equity to hype bidding to the highest level, even though deals these days take longer to reach the closing table than in years past, DeNicola explains. It could take six months to close, but he’s confident would-be buyers will be plentiful. Though typecast as revenue generators, the hotels do have some “capital needs that the brands will ask the buyers to perform,” DeNicola says.

The 33 hotels to be sold are valued at $225 million to $250 million or $35,000 per key, FelCor previously said. As the nation’s second-largest lodging REIT, it owns 169 hotels in 35 states and Canada, of which 77 are Doubletree and Embassy brands, the REIT’s leaders when it comes to generating revenue.

Last year, some $3 billion in hotels traded. Of that, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels’ track record was 6,747 hotel rooms for $862 million in 36 cities while hiring out its advisory expertise on another 116,877 rooms with a selling value of $17.8 billion in 170 cities.