Roundup: Hotel, Albertsons sold / YEA donation / Slack goes public

SOLD: The Red Roof Inn on Boardwalk Drive, near I-12 and Sherwood Forest Drive, has sold for $2.2 million. Manan Patel bought the hotel through BR-LA Realty LLC from Houston-based Westmont Hospitality Group, which owns over 500 hotels worldwide. In a separate transaction, California-businessman David Kuns, president of 1031 Exchange Professionals Inc, bought the Albertsons building, in Hammond Aire Plaza at the corner of Old Hammond and Airline highways, from VEREIT, a real estate investment trust. Kuns purchased the 66,000-square-foot property for $10 “and other good and valuable consideration.”

Scholarships: Chemical company BASF announced its support of the Young Entrepreneurs Academy of Baton Rouge, donating $5,000 to the organization to cover tuition costs for five Ascension Parish students. Interested students in Ascension who want to apply can visit YEA’s site for more information. Deadline for applications is Aug. 15.

Tech trading: Shares of work messaging platform Slack are expected to start trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “WORK.” The San Francisco company is set to start trading this morning in what’s known as a direct listing. While there is no set price for the listing, in a regulatory filing Slack said the volume weighted average price of shares that changed hands in the private market from February through May was $26.38. Read the full story.