Goldman Sachs’ Whitehall Street real estate unit is going to sell 149 U.S. limited-service hotels to non-traded Moody National REIT for US$1.73 billion, according to people with knowledge of the deal, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
The portfolio is composed mostly of properties Whitehall purchased from the family of motel operator Gary Tharaldson for US$1.2 billion in 2006, the people said.
The deal is the biggest for the Houston-based company since it started buying hotels four years ago, and will increase assets under management to about US$2.5 billion, CEO Brett Moody said .
“We still think there are several years left in the hotel cycle,” Moody told Bloomberg. “The portfolio is poised to take advantage of increased demand with continued lack of supply.”
The deal includes brands such as Hampton Inn and Courtyard by Marriott spread across 32 states, with a concentration in California, Arizona, Texas and the Northeast, according to Moody. The REIT plans to invest about US$280 million to renovate the properties, Moody said.