The Hilton Mission Valley Hotel has been sold for an undisclosed price to one of the country’s fastest-growing hotel owners, Norwalk, Conn.-based HEI Hospitality.
The seller was Mission Valley Associates, which developed the property in 1987.
Announcement of the transaction was made March 24. Colliers International acted as the broker.
HEI stated that it plans to invest approximately $9 million within the next 12 months making upgrades to the 351-room facility.
According to Jeff Foster, the hotel’s general manager, the business employs about 200 people, and expectations are that most of them will be retained by the new owner.
The hotel opened under the DoubleTree brand in July 1987, and became a Hilton in March 1992, Foster said.
“This is our fourth hotel acquisition on the West Coast in the past year and matches up well with the properties we are targeting stabilized and turn-around hotels or portfolios of first class, full-service hotels and resorts with 200 to 500 rooms,” said Gary Mendell, HEI’s chief executive officer. “We continue to have a great deal of interest in the San Diego market, as well as such markets as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle, for well-located hotels in areas with high barriers to new competition.”
According to Alan Reay, president of Costa Mesa-based Atlas Hospitality Group, one of Southern California’s largest hotel brokers, HEI also acquired the Long Beach Hilton about four months ago.
The purchase of the Hilton Mission Valley is an “example of how strong the hotel market is in Southern California,” Reay said.
HEI Hospitality is an ownership and investment firm that owns or operates 25 hotels throughout the country under such brands as Marriott, Sheraton, Westin and Hilton.
Connie Lewis
