The renovation project has an estimated $30 million price tag and will be completed in conjunction with Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group LLC, which LaSalle also retained to manage and operate the hotels. The hotels, which have a total of 502 rooms, are: Canterbury Hotel, with 99 rooms, located at 1733 N Street NW; Clarion Hampshire House Hotel, 82 rooms at 1310 New Hampshire Avenue NW; Quality Hotel and Suites Downtown, 137 rooms, at 1315 16th Street NW; and Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel and Suites, 184 rooms, 1430 Rhode Island Avenue NW.
LaSalle Hotel chief financial officer Hans Weger says two of the hotels will be closed in the third quarter of this year for renovation and will reopen by the end of the year. The other two hotels will then be closed for renovations, opening by the end of the first quarter in 2002. The hotels, once refurbished, will be renamed and managed as independent, non-branded hotels.
"Washington, DC is a high growth urban market with significant barriers to entry and strong growth in room demand in all segments, including commercial transient, group and leisure/tourism," says Jon Bortz, CEO of LaSalle Hotel Properties. "These hotels fit squarely within our strategy of investing in upscale and luxury hotels, or properties that can be easily repositioned to such levels, which are located in high barrier to entry urban, resort or convention markets."
LaSalle officials pointed to a study done by Smith Travel Research, which shows increasing hotel occupancy rates here over the past several years. Because of high land costs, a scarcity of available sites, building height limitations and high construction costs, few new hotels are being constructed downtown, according to the research.
LaSalle officials also hope the hotels will benefit from the scheduled March 2003 opening of the new Washington Convention Center, will is expected to draw some 2.5 million visitors a year. The new hotels are all within a 10-minute walk from that site.
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