D.C. Hotel Sales Continue With $128M Marriott Trade

A Bethesda, Md.-based real estate investment trust has sold a Marriott-branded hotel in Washington, D.C., in the latest hotel trade in the District over the past 12 months.

A subsidiary of Host Hotels & Resorts — a REIT affiliated with Marriott properties — sold the 459-key Washington Marriott at Metro Center for $128 million. An affiliate of Newport Beach, Calif.-based T2 Hospitality acquired the asset, according to the Business Journals, which first reported the news.

Host Hotels acquired the property at 775 12th Street NW in 1994. The previous year, the Marriott Corporation split into two entities: Host Marriott Corporation — Host Hotels’ predecessor and owner of Marriott’s real estate — and Marriott International, which took over property management. Host Marriott established REIT status in early 1999, and rebranded as Host Hotels & Resorts in 2006. 

Host Hotels has in recent years invested millions into renovating the Washington Marriott at Metro Center, including the addition of a new front entrance and lobby, a fitness center, a restaurant and an M Club lounge. It was not immediately clear why the REIT opted to sell the hotel. Representatives for both Host Hotels and T2 did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Host Hotels joins other hoteliers trading D.C. properties lately. DiamondRock Hospitality — a fellow Bethesda-based REIT — in late February sold the Westin Washington, D.C. City Center, a 410-key hotel less than a mile northwest of the Washington Marriott at Metro Center, to Columbia Sussex for $92 million. The deal came at a hefty discount compared to the $153 million that DiamondRock paid for the property in 2012. 

The previous month, a 220-key hotel dubbed The Line, within the District’s Adams Morgan neighborhood, was transferred to lender Acore Capital at foreclosure auction via a $1 million credit bid. Acore inherently assumed an $86 million note tied to the property as part of the deal.

Meanwhile, the Trump Organization attempted earlier this year to reclaim the former Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C., currently branded as Waldorf Astoria. CGI Merchant Group had acquired the leasehold interest from Trump in 2022 (the property is owned by the federal government) for $375 million, yet defaulted on a $285 million loan tied to the hotel just two years later. Merchant bank BDT & MSD Partners acquired the property at foreclosure auction last August. The current status of the Trump Organization’s effort to buy back the rights to the property was not immediately clear. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.