Investors Hot for Denver Hotels
Denver’s got one of hottest hotel markets in the country, and investors are eager to get a piece of the action—especially new or recently renovated assets. “It’s a very strong market,” Chatham Lodging Trust EVP and CFO Dennis Craven tells us, citing data from Smith Travel Research. According to STR, Denver has been one of the top performing markets in 2014, with RevPAR growth of 16.9% through July, putting it second-highest among the top 25 markets in the US by that metric. “The primary driver is continued employment expansion in the area,” Dennis says.
Recently Florida-based Chatham acquired the 194-room Hyatt Place Denver/Cherry Creek for $32M, or about $165k per key. Previously flagged the Loews Denver Cherry Creek, the hotel closed in 2012 and reopened last October as a Hyatt Place, after a multi-million dollar renovation. Chatham CIO Peter Willis says the site is an infill location with high barriers to entry. The property is the REIT’s second hotel in the Denver area, joining the Hilton Garden Inn in the Denver Tech Center. Through the Innkeepers JV, Chatham also owns interests in two Residence Inns, one in Downtown Denver and the other in the Denver Tech Center.
