MINNEAPOLIS-DiamondRock Hospitality Co., based in Bethesda, MD, has signed a purchase agreement to pay $155.5 million for the 821-room Minneapolis Hilton here. The hotel, the largest in the city, is owned by a joint venture of Greenwich, CT-based Starwood Capital Group and locally-based Haberhill LLC. The venture bought the property in March 2006 for $92 million.

The contractual purchase price for the Hilton Minneapolis is $152 million. In addition to the contractual purchase price, DiamondRock has agreed to fund the seller's cost to defease the existing mortgage debt secured by the hotel, since the company will not assume the existing mortgage debt as part of its acquisition. The buyer expects the defeasance cost of about $3.5 million to be paid at closing.

DiamondRock said in a statement that it has committed to make a $15.2 million deposit that will become non-refundable on June 17 unless the company terminates the purchase and sale agreement prior to that date. The firm said it expects the acquisition to close early in its third fiscal quarter of 2010, subject to satisfactory completion of its due diligence review of the property and other customary closing conditions, including the receipt of third-party consents.