Ashford Hospitality Trust, a real estate investment trust grappling with financial troubles stemming from the onset of the pandemic, is seeking to sell more of its U.S. hotels to help it pay off loans.
The Dallas-based REIT unveiled a dozen properties in its portfolio in various stages of being placed on the market with plans to use the proceeds to repay a loan totaling more than $180 million. The loan, from Oaktree Capital Management, has a final maturity date next January. Along with selling some of its hotels, Ashford plans to refinance some of its mortgage debt and raise capital through its non-traded preferred equity.
"Our hotel portfolio also continues to benefit from its geographic diversification, and I believe we are well-positioned to continue to outperform," said Rob Hays, president and CEO of Ashford Trust, in a statement. He didn't comment further to CoStar News.
The REIT had 95 hotels in its portfolio as of December. The trust announced plans last year to hand back the keys to 19 hotels to lenders because it made financial sense and that process is ongoing.
The following 12 hotels are in various stages of being available for sale, according to Ashford's statement from last week:
- The Ritz-Carlton Atlanta, a 444-room luxury hotel in downtown Atlanta.
- The Westin Princeton, a 296-room upper-upscale hotel in Princeton, New Jersey.
- The Hilton Boston Back Bay, a 390-room upper-upscale hotel in Boston.
- The Hyatt Regency Savannah, a 351-room upper-upscale hotel in Savannah, Georgia.
- One Ocean Resort and Spa, a 193-room upper-upscale hotel in Atlantic Beach, Florida.
- Residence Inn Orlando at Sea World, a 350-room upscale hotel in Orlando, Florida.
- The Residence Inn Salt Lake City, a 144-room upscale hotel in Salt Lake City.
- Courtyard Overland Park, a 168-room upscale hotel in Overland Park, Kansas.
- The Courtyard Manchester, a 90-room hotel in Manchester, Connecticut.
- The Hampton Inn Lawrenceville, an upper-midscale hotel in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
- The SpringHill Suites Kennesaw, a 90-room upscale hotel in Kennesaw, Georgia.
- The Fairfield Inn & Suites Kennesaw, an 87-room upper-midscale hotel in Kennesaw, Georgia.
Ashford's executives said in the statement they are unlikely to sell all of the 12 hotels but plan to determine the properties that have the "most attractive valuations" and provide "sufficient proceeds levels above allocated debt balances and mortgage release prices." Proceeds from potential property sales will help deleverage the REIT's balance sheet and be used for general corporate purposes, the company said.
More information on the marketing process was not disclosed.
Ashford is also working with lenders to refinance the loan securing its Renaissance Nashville hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. It is also working with lenders to refinance other loans, including its Morgan Stanley pool loan with 17 hotels in various states, as well as the loan tied to its Marriott Gateway hotel in Arlington, Virginia, and the loan secured by the Indigo Atlanta hotel in Atlanta.
In particular, the Renaissance Nashville hotel is expected to have "substantial excess proceeds" from the loan refinancing to help pay down the company's strategic refinancing, executives said.