A partnership between a Natchitoches-based hotel management company and a New York investor has acquired the high-rise Marriott hotel off Interstate-10 near College Drive for $21.8 million, and plans to begin an extensive, year-long renovation of the 300-room hotel some time this fall.
In a sale that closed Thursday, Dimensions Development of Natchitoches and Allan V. Rose through their limited liability company, Baton Rouge Hotel Investors, LLC, acquired the iconic hotel from CCMS Lodging, a real estate trust that has owned it since 2013. Dimensions President and General Counsel Greg Friedman says his company, which was founded by his father Sam Friedman, was interested in the property for several reasons.
“It’s a great location, it’s got good bones and we love the Baton Rouge market,” Friedman says.
Already, Marriott and Dimensions have retained a design team to begin drawing up plans for the overhaul of the 42-year-old hotel. It was partially renovated in 2005, but to be competitive in the high-end segment of the local hotel market needs an extensive renovation, according to Friedman, who says it’s too soon to estimate the cost. Previously, industry experts have estimated the price tag could range from between $15 million and $20 million.
Friedman hopes the hotel will remain open during the renovation, which would be done one floor at a time. However, he says he’s not sure yet if that will be possible.
“Until we get the whole scope of the project back we can’t say for sure,” he says.
The Marriott is the latest addition to the growing Dimensions portfolio. The company manages 50 hotels around the country, including the Springhill Suites at the Baton Rouge Airport, and Le Pavillon and the Intercontinental in downtown New Orleans. It has an equity stake in 25 of the properties it manages. It will own a 26% share of the Baton Rouge Marriott; Rose will own 74%.
Ralph Ney, who formerly managed the Embassy Suites on Constitution Avenue, has been named the hotel’s new general manager. Friedman says Dimensions identified Ney early on “as someone we wanted.” Ney says he is looking forward to the challenge.
“This hotel is a landmark in Baton Rouge and has a lot of history behind it,” he says. “It’s a great opportunity and I can’t wait to see it when it is restored to its former glory.”
Though one of the city’s best-known hotels, the Marriott—developed as a Hilton in the early 1970s—has been plagued with financial problems for decades. In 2000, an investor group acquired it from Massachusetts Mutual Life Co. for $38 million. CCMS was the main lender and got hammered on the deal. It was owed $32 million on a $36 million promissory note when it took the hotel back from investors in May 2013.
Three months later, CCMS bought back the property for $2,200 in court costs, and has been trying to sell it ever since. Last fall it put the property up for auction online but took it down after two days because the property failed to meet the reserve, or minimum bid, the owners were seeking. The high bid at that time was $21.4 million, $400,000 shy of what the hotel sold for this week.
—Stephanie Riegel
