$65M Plus Takes Marriott BWI

BALTIMORE-Ashford Hospitality Trust has sold the Marriott Hotel BWI Airport–a 309-key full-service facility–to a European-based joint venture. According to a source close to the deal, which closed last week, the hotel traded hands for more than $65 million. The buyers are a joint venture of the Bank of Scotland and Capital Hotel Group, called Hibernia Worldwide Hotels BV.

The hotel will still operate under the Marriott flag and will be managed by the company under a long-term agreement. Molinaro Koger brokered the deal on behalf of Ashford. Robert Koger, president of MK, structured the transaction with Mark Morris, SVP, of the firm’s Washington, DC office.

Koger tells GlobeSt.com that Hibernia’s acquisition–its first in the US–is indicative of foreign investors’ growing footprint in the US hospitality industry. In fact, he goes so far as to say that European and Middle Eastern capital will be the dominant buyers in this asset class next year.