BOSTON-Irving, TX-based FelCor Loding Trust Inc. is purchasing the fee-simple interest of the Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel for $98.5 million. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is selling, but staying on as management for the hotel under a 20-year management agreement it signed when it originally purchased the property. At the time, Fairmont paid $3 million to the previous owner for the long-term assignment.

The 383-room trophy hotel has 23,000 square feet of meeting space, a 5,720-square-foot Grand Ballroom, as well as the Oak Room and the Oak Bar. Its RevPAR for 2009 clocked in at $162. Fairmont picked up the hotel through a two-part deal in 2003 from Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talai bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, purchasing the second half of the hotel for $23 million.

During its tenure as owner, the Fairmont upgraded the fourth floor of the 1912 hotel, turning it into premium Fairmont Gold. Felcor says it will "implement a capital plan in excess of $20 million, which includes an overall refreshing of the property and various value-enhancement initiatives to augment future EBITADA growth." The upgrades will be to public areas, guestrooms and encompass the addition of a new fitness center.