Chatham Lodging, NorthStar JV To Buy $1.1 Bln Hotel Portfolio

(RTTNews) - Chatham Lodging Trust (CLDT), a hotel real estate investment trust, announced Thursday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire, through a joint venture with NorthStar Realty Finance (NRF), a $1.1 billion hotel portfolio from Inland American Real Estate Trust.

Concurrently, Chatham is negotiating with NorthStar to acquire 4 hotels comprising 575 rooms out of the Portfolio prior to or in connection with the closing of the Portfolio.

Chatham also said it has acquired the recently re-opened 194-room Hyatt Place Denver/Cherry Creek for $32 million, or approximately $165,000 per room.

The company said the portfolio transactions are expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Regarding the Inland American Portfolio Joint Venture deal, the company said the JV will be a 90/10 joint venture between NorthStar and Chatham.

Island Hospitality, which is 90 percent owned by Jeffrey H. Fisher, Chatham's president and chief executive officer, is expected to manage 38 of the 52 hotels and Marriott International will manage the remaining 14 hotels in the Portfolio.

Chatham would invest approximately $29 million for its 10 percent interest in the joint venture.

In a separate statement, NorthStar said it will have an approximately $3.2 billion hotel portfolio consisting of 159 hotels and over 20,000 rooms, including the Inland American that is comprised of 52 upscale extended stay and select service hotels with approximately 7,000 rooms.