Monarch Hotel Sells in $145M Deal

WASHINGTON, DC-The Monarch Hotel has a new owner and will get a new name following a $145-million deal between Canadian buyer Legacy Hotels Real Estate Investment Trust and seller Destination Hotels & Resorts, a subsidiary of Lowe Enterprises Investment Management Inc. The arrangement also provides for Legacy’s assumption of an existing $51.5 million mortgage on the 415-room luxury property. Monarch will become The Fairmont Washington, DC, upon the deal’s expected closing next month, and will get Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Inc. as a property manager.

Located in the District’s West End area between Georgetown and Dupont Circle, the hotel has occupied the corner of M and 24th streets since its development in 1985, and sits just across the street from the Park Hyatt Hotel and adjacent to the Westin Grand Hotel. Its amenities include 29,000 sf of meeting room space, a 17,500-sf fitness center, a ballroom capable of accommodating up to 500, and a ground-level restaurant accessible from inside and outside the hotel. The name change will not be the hotel’s first. Destination changed the property’s name from The ANA Hotel to Monarch after acquiring it from All Nippon Airways in 1998. The hotel underwent a $12-million upgrade the following year.