New England Hotel Realty Sells Hotel Portfolio

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(Portsmouth, NH) - New England Hotel Realty (NEHR), the largest real estate brokerage firm in the Northeast, recently announced the sale of a portfolio of three mid-market hotels in the New England area. The three hotels: 140-room Comfort Inn North Shore in Danvers, Mass.; 131-room Comfort Suites in Haverhill, Mass.; and the 127-room Comfort Inn Airport in South Portland, Maine.

The three Comfort Inn hotels were part of a larger group of assets owned by the seller that includes more than 25 hotels ranging from Maine to California.  These New England hotels are all located in high-traffic areas around two of the Northeast's largest cities, Boston and Portland. All three hotels have a strong commercial business base and are leaders in their respective mid-scale markets.

"Because of the proximity of the hotels to two of the largest markets in the Northeast, we knew there would be heavy investor interest once on the market," says Ken Ford, CHB of New England Hotel Realty.  NEHR acted as the exclusive advisor to the seller, a national hotel company that owns and operates hotels across the United States.  The seller tasked Ford and New England Hotel Realty with closing the sales in a short time frame in order to synchronize with other planned dispositions.

With the seller's deadline in mind, New England Hotel Realty immediately sourced its proprietary, national roster of pre-qualified lodging investors to target those that would be interested in growing their portfolios in the Northeast.

 "Using the roster we were able to quickly identify investors by matching their investment criteria with each offering," Ford said. "We presented the three attractive investment opportunities and immediately received multiple letters of intent for the seller's consideration."

In the end, New England Hotel Realty sourced financing for 2 of the 3 properties; negotiated all cash-sales with the buyers, all large hotel companies with extensive holdings located along the East Coast; and closed all transactions within the seller's desired time frame.

"Significantly in today's market, we obtained prices at or near the seller's asking price on all three hotels," said Ford.

Each of the buyers plans to retain the Comfort Inn affiliation and has renovation programs scheduled for 2012.  The largest of the renovation projects is slated for the Comfort Suites in Haverhill, where the buyer is currently exploring plans to expand the lobby and add an indoor pool.