2 Downtown Mpls. Hotels Sold; 1 to Rebrand as Hyatt

Two hotels in downtown Minneapolis have been sold in separate deals.
 
The Hotel Minneapolis located at 215 South Fourth Street was sold to Annapolis, Maryland-based Chesapeake Lodging Trust for $46 million; meanwhile, Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels Corporation bought the Comfort Suites at 425 South Seventh Street for an undisclosed sum.
 
Both deals were announced on Tuesday.
 
Hyatt said that it plans to rebrand the 216-room Comfort Suites as Hyatt Place Minneapolis Downtown after spending $20 million on “capital improvements.” The move will create the fourth Hyatt-branded hotel in downtown Minneapolis.
 
Once the renovation is complete, which is expected in summer 2013, Hyatt will sell the hotel to Summit Hotel Properties, Inc., a Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based company that owns hotels under Hyatt, Marriott International, and Hilton Worldwide franchises. After the sale to Summit, Hyatt will continue to manage the hotel—which is located inside the Centre Village building near the Metrodome.
 
Meanwhile, the 222-room Hotel Minneapolis, which bills itself as a boutique hotel and operates under Marriott’s Autograph Collection brand, will keep its current brand affiliation, Chesapeake said. The hotel was previously owned by Norwalk, Connecticut-based HEI Hotels and Resorts, which will continue to manage the property.
 
The 10-story hotel includes 6,000 square feet of meeting space, a 250-seat restaurant, a business center, and a 24-hour fitness center.
 
“We are thrilled to expand our portfolio with another high-quality, full-service boutique lifestyle property located in the core [central business district] of Minneapolis,” James Francis, Chesapeake’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “The property has been meticulously restored and is one of the premier hotels in the city.”