Starwood Completes Sale of W New Orleans

Starwood has completed the sale of the W New Orleans to Chesapeake Lodging Trust for $65 million.

The sale comes on the heels of the sale of W New Orleans - French Quarter to Chesapeake Lodging Trust.

As part of the agreement, Chesapeake Lodging Trust will renovate the 410-room hotel located at 333 Poydras Street.

Within walking distance to the boutiques, art galleries and jazz clubs of the city's historic French Quarter and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, the W New Orleans is also close to the Riverwalk Marketplace, Harrah's Casino and the Warehouse District.

"We are delighted to further expand our partnership with Chesapeake Lodging Trust with the sale of our second hotel in New Orleans this year," said Simon Turner, President of Global Development for Starwood. "Starwood continues its systematic pursuit of an asset-light strategy by selling hotels to owners who share our vision for each property."

"We are fortunate to have a quality portfolio of owned assets in a number of high barrier-to-entry markets. With continuing improvements in hotel industry fundamentals, historically low interest rates and improving capital markets conditions, we've seen a meaningful increase in buyer interest in our assets from an increasingly diverse global buyer universe," Mr Turner added.

The hotel is Chesapeake Lodging Trust's fifth Starwood property, joining W New Orleans - French Quarter, W Chicago - City Center, W Chicago - Lakeshore and Le Méridien San Francisco.