"Overall, the third quarter was a very weak quarter for our hotel business," president and chief executive Bruce Wardinski says in a statement, perhaps expressing the sentiment of the entire lodging industry in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Oddly, though, Wardinski says, "The one bright spot in the quarter was the performance of our senior-living communities." However, Crestline jettisoned most of its senior living portfolio when it sold its portfolio of 31 senior assisted living properties to Newton, MA-based Senior Housing Properties Trust for $600 million in debt and equity financing. That deal is expected to close early next year. Crestline was spun-off from another Bethesda, MD-based company, Host Marriott Corp., in December 1998. At that time, Host Marriott became a hotel REIT, and laws required that hotel REITS lease the properties they owned to other companies. Crestline became the lessee.