Electra America, AKA Buy Holiday Inn in Alexandria for $36M Renovation
By Keith Loria July 16, 2021 3:23 pm
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Electra America Hospitality Group, a joint venture between Electra America and AKA, has acquired a former 178-key Holiday Inn & Suites in Alexandria, Va.
The price was not disclosed. The hotel was last acquired in 2016 for $37.8 million by HI Alexandria Owner LLC from Carr Companies.
The joint venture confirmed that it would invest nearly $36 million in the renovation of the hotel, keeping with its strategy of converting underperforming hotels in gateway markets into four-star hotels.
“Our goal is to deliver a high-quality offering with extended-stay and short-term options to a market that is very balanced, though underperforming in terms of hotel product,” Larry Korman, AKA’s president and co-CEO of Korman Communities, told Commercial Observer. “What attracted us to the property is that it offers expansive, common space square footage, which will allow us to create a unique opportunity with robust amenities catering to a diverse and sophisticated clientele.”
The property will also add an iconic destination restaurant.
Located at 625 First Street in Old Town, the hotel is just a short commute to the new Amazon’s HQ2, new Virginia Tech Innovation Campus, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the U.S. Capitol.
“We feel its location will draw significant business from high-end submarkets nearby,” Korman said. “The location also has a calming, historic feel and is in close proximity to D.C., where AKA also has an existing property.”
Russ Urban, Electra America Hospitality Group’s CEO, told CO that with a limited supply of luxury product in nearby markets, the joint venture expects the hotel to draw significant business from other large office/government submarkets nearby, including Crystal City and Pentagon City.
In May, Electra America Hospitality Group acquired the Roger New York, a 194-room boutique hotel in the heart of Manhattan’s NoMad neighborhood, for $19 million, which will undergo $22 million in renovations this year.
“Our goal is to execute on a bold re-imagining of both hotels that will transform them into the best product in their respective submarkets,” Urban said. “Simultaneously, EAHG continues to source opportunities in other major markets where the pandemic has fundamentally altered the hospitality landscape, including Miami, Los Angeles, Nashville and London, along with New York City and Washington, D.C.”
