hospitalitystyle.com

(April 2010) posted on Fri Apr 16, 2010 EDT

St. Giles Hotels buys properties for $78 million

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. has sold two pioneering properties within its W chain in New York to London-based St. Giles Hotels LLC for $78 million. The deal involved the 198-room W New York - The Court and the 122-room W New York. Both properties, located on 39th Street near Lexington Avenue, will operate under the St Giles Hotel's new contemporary brand, and are no longer be affiliated with the W Hotels brand or Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

W The Court and W The Tuscany debuted as W Hotels in 1999 and were among the brand's first properties. With the sale, Starwood now has four W Hotels in the New York metro area, including W New York, W New York - Times Square, W New York - Union Square and W Hoboken. And this summer, Starwood will open the new 217-room W New York - Downtown.

Simon Turner, Starwood's president of global development, said the sale of the two New York properties is part of the company's long-term “strategic disposition” of owned real estate. "Starwood is fortunate to own numerous world-class assets. Over time we will continue to methodically review our property ownership positions and seek ways to enhance our brands and evaluate our real estate positions with the overriding objective of maximizing shareholder value. That could include unlocking real estate value by selling certain assets.

Turner also noted that when the company sells an asset, it typically continues to manage the property on a long term basis. However, in the case of W The Court and W The Tuscany, “given that we have a significant, high profile and growing footprint in New York City combined with the evolution of the W brand, we made the decision to sell these legacy hotels without the W flag,” he said.