The prices paid for these hotels, both conversions of historic office buildings, has certainly sparked interest among many hotel developers. Goldman says he has getting a lot of calls from developers and owners looking to do similar deals.

But the deals can be a bit more complicated than sale-leasebacks of corporate headquarters. “There is a tremendous amount of due diligence,” Goldman says. “The German investors in particular are very hands-on,” and want a great deal of documentation before agreeing to a purchase.

Due to their popularity among travelers, historic structures like LondonHouse and 100 W. Monroe are among the most popular sites for new downtown hotels, and for 100 W. Monroe there was an additional layer of requirements regarding historic tax credits, making the deal even more complex.

“You've got to get the tax credit investors' approval,” says Goldman. Negotiations for the new Hyatt Centric transaction took about a year. “These are not quick deals; you've got to have some patience.”

CHICAGO—German investor Deka Immobilien, the real estate arm of DekaBank Group, has a contract to buy the Hyatt Centric hotel at 100 W. Monroe St. in Chicago's Loop for $110 million. The developer will continue to operate the 257-room hotel, which opened in 2015, under the Hyatt brand. Such sale-leaseback deals are relatively rare for US hotels, but experts say they may become more common in the near future, especially if overseas buyers continue flocking to the sector.

That seems highly probable, considering that core cities like Chicago, New York, Boston, Miami, and Los Angeles remain quite attractive for foreign investors, and thousands of new hotel rooms have sprouted in their downtowns.

“It's a win for both sides, and it makes a lot of sense, especially if you are a foreign investor,” Bob Goldman, a partner in global law firm DLA Piper's real estate practice, tells GlobeSt.com. These buyers typically prefer locking in a guaranteed return and allowing local professionals to continue managing a hotel. Such sale-leasebacks for hotels are more common overseas, especially in Europe. “They're comfortable with this deal structure,” and the developer in turn gets their capital back quickly.

He represented the Hyatt Centric's developer, Murphy Development Group, and its affiliates, in the sale. And this wasn't the first time he helped engineer a sale-leaseback of a new downtown hotel to a foreign investor. Goldman represented Oxford Capital Group in its $315 million deal with Hamburg-based Union Investment Real Estate for the 452-room LondonHouse Chicago hotel at N. Michigan Ave. and the Chicago River. As part of the 2016 deal, Oxford agreed to lease and manage the luxury hotel for 25 years.

The prices paid for these hotels, both conversions of historic office buildings, has certainly sparked interest among many hotel developers. Goldman says he has getting a lot of calls from developers and owners looking to do similar deals.

But the deals can be a bit more complicated than sale-leasebacks of corporate headquarters. “There is a tremendous amount of due diligence,” Goldman says. “The German investors in particular are very hands-on,” and want a great deal of documentation before agreeing to a purchase.

Due to their popularity among travelers, historic structures like LondonHouse and 100 W. Monroe are among the most popular sites for new downtown hotels, and for 100 W. Monroe there was an additional layer of requirements regarding historic tax credits, making the deal even more complex.

“You've got to get the tax credit investors' approval,” says Goldman. Negotiations for the new Hyatt Centric transaction took about a year. “These are not quick deals; you've got to have some patience.”