$33M Sale Continues Sunstone Strategy

SAN CLEMENTE, CA-Sunstone Hotel Investors has completed the latest deal in the hotel REIT’s ongoing disposition and capital recycling program with the $33-million sale of the 362-room Salt Lake City Sheraton to Jupiter, FL-based Driftwood Hospitality. The Salt Lake City property, located at 150 W. 500 South, marks the 22nd hotel that Sunstone has sold since Jan. 1, 2006.

The Salt Lake City Sheraton was built in 1975 and renovated in 2001, but Sunstone says that the property would have required approximately $15 million in renovation expenditures in 2008 to comply with Sheraton brand standards. Sunstone has been investing in renovations in a number of the company’s properties, including $27.2 million during the third quarter, according to the REIT’s latest public filings.

The company also has other renovations in the works, including a project at the Marriott Boston Long Wharf, for which it completed the design during the third quarter. The $14-million Long Wharf renovation is expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2008.

With the sale of the Salt Lake City property, Sunstone now has interests in 46 hotels with an aggregate of 16,085 rooms, primarily in the upper-upscale segment operated under brands such as Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, Starwood and Fairmont. As part of a strategic plan to dispose of non-core hotel assets, the company sold six hotel properties in the first nine months of 2007 for net proceeds of $147.4 million and a net gain of $56 million.

Other properties that Sunstone has sold since the beginning of the disposition program in 2001 range from a 121-room Residence Inn by Marriott in Sacramento to a 303-room Crowne Plaza in Williamsburg, VA. The other properties that the REIT has sold include hotels in California, Oregon, Minnesota, Washington, New Mexico, New Jersey, Idaho, Colorado and Utah.