The oldest hotel in Austin, Texas, has changed hands.
The Driskill, which was built in 1886 and has been in Hyatt Hotels Corp.’s portfolio since 2013, was sold to Dallas-based Woodbine Development Corp. for $125 million, according to Hyatt's regulatory filings. Hyatt will remain as the 189-room hotel's on-site management team.
Woodbine Development plans to spend some money on The Driskill, located at 604 Brazos St. in downtown Austin, to make “guest experience enhancements,” a Hyatt spokesperson said in an email.
“The sale of The Driskill is part of Hyatt’s asset-sale strategy to transform toward a more fee-based earnings mix, fund Hyatt’s continued growth in key markets where our guests are traveling, and fuel new lines of business that strengthen opportunities to care for guests in more ways and more places,” Alessandra Lenardon, The Driskill’s marketing manager, said in an email. “We want to reassure our colleagues, guests, customers and community that Hyatt will continue to manage The Driskill under a long-term management agreement, and there will be no business disruption with this transfer of ownership at this time.”
CoStar News reached out to Woodbine Development to discuss its future plans for The Driskill, but company representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Woodbine, according to its LinkedIn page, specializes in historic renovations, hotels and resorts.
The sale of The Driskill was part of Hyatt’s larger strategy to sell off $2 billion of assets. Chicago-based Hyatt also recently sold the Hyatt San Antonio River Walk and Hyatt Regency Indian Wells Resort & Spa near Palm Springs, California.
As for The Driskill, the property recently underwent some cosmetic upgrades. Austin-based Clayton Korte updated the hotel’s 14 suites, which included repurposing of historic elements. Each renovated room features one stained glass window and clawfoot tubs. New beds and updated showers were also part of the renovations.
The upgrades, which were completed last year, cost $2.9 million. Renovations for the rest of the hotel’s rooms were still on deck when the suites were completed.
Cattle baron Jesse Driskill built the hotel at the corner of Sixth and Brazos streets in 1886. The hotel cost $400,000 to build back then — that’s about $12.3 million in 2022 dollars, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's inflation calculator.