During the warmer months, the 35 New York City hotels with rooftop bars generate up to $120 in revenue per square foot for the space, according to a report released today by Jones Lang LaSalle extolling the virtues of rooftop bars.

The move toward rooftop bars has gained steam over the last decade, as 49 percent of the room count in hotels with rooftop bars were added since 2000. International chains have entered the market, too, now representing one-third of the total number of rooms with rooftop bars. [more]

As $17.5 billion in securitized loans backed by U.S. lodging properties mature in the next 18 months, lenders are quickly making agreements on distressed loans, working harder to avoid foreclosure on hotel properties than on any other commercial assets, Bloomberg News reported.

Data from Real Capital Analytics shows that workout agreements have been reached on 53 percent of distressed hotel loans since the beginning of 2008, more than on any other type of property. The reason, some experts speculate, may be that hotels are effectively rented by the night, and contracts with hotel operators may be terminated if a property is foreclosed on, making it harder to run or sell. [more]

The real estate industry powered another strong month for New York City employment figures, providing 2,000 of the 6,100 new jobs in April, according to an April employment report prepared by Eastern Consolidated. It was one of four industries that contributed at least 1,000 new jobs to the city, and has now gained 4,100 new jobs since the end of 2010. But it’s not all good news, as fewer people are being employed to build on that real estate. The construction industry lost 1,700 jobs in April, according to the report, following last week’s news from a separate report that construction employment has hit its lowest level in 13 years. All told, so far in 2011, the construction sector has lost 2,700 jobs. TRD [more]

U.S. hotels had a strong first week of April, highlighted by the upper-upscale segment which saw occupancy rates surge 9.2 percent, daily rates increase 7.4 percent and revenue per available room soar 17.4 percent, according to Smith Travel Research. Across all markets, occupancy rose 4.8 percent to 62 percent, and the average daily rate increased 4.7 percent to $101.22. In addition to the upper-upscale market, the luxury market and the upscale market achieved double-digit increases in revpar. No market segment saw statistically significant decreases in daily rates. TRD [more]

The 99-room Best Western Plus Prospect Park opened this weekend at 764 Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park, according to Brownstoner. The Best Western website says the 10-story hotel will feature a 3,500-square-foot luxury spa, 1,000 square feet of meeting space and on-site parking. Rooms start at $130 per night. The hotel is the latest in a Brooklyn hotel boom that’s transpired over the past few years. Land is cheaper and easier to obtain than it is in Manhattan, but last year, on average, rooms cost $100 less than they did in Manhattan and had far lower occupancy rates. [Brownstoner] [more]

U.S. hotels saw a 5.7 percent occupancy increase from last year and a 2 percent year-over-year uptick in daily room rates during the week that ended Jan. 8, according to the latest data from Smith Travel Research. Occupancy is now at nearly 43 percent and rates are at an average of $93.43. Revenue per available room, the third of the three key performance metrics for the hotel industry, saw a 7.8 percent year-over-year increase during the week, finishing at $40, STR said. TRD

From left: CBRE’s Ron Danko and two hotels in the deal: a Branchburg Residence Inn and a Long Island Spring Hill Suites

[Updated 12:39 p.m.] MCR Development has acquired a portfolio of 10 Marriott and Hilton hotels for $164 million, marking one of the largest hotel deals in the country so far this year, according to commercial real estate services firm CB Richard Ellis, which brokered the deal. The collection of mostly extended-stay hotels includes 1,100 rooms across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

The seller, developer Briad Group, held onto the portfolio longer than it intended, according to CBRE broker Ron Danko, who was involved in the deal. Briad, who built the hotels between 2007 and 2010, chose to ride out the recession before unloading the properties. [more]

A British hotelier who vacated the country after becoming the target of tax evasion charges in the U.S. is hopping mad at her former butler, whom she says is living in her Midtown East co-op illegally, according to the New York Post. The butler, Arthur Gilliam, tendered his resignation to Beatrice Tollman, the head of the Red Carnation hotel chain, in 2001 and vacated the apartment she provided for him during his employment on the corner of Park Avenue and 50th Street shortly thereafter. [more]

The nationwide hotel market showed considerable positive momentum in the third quarter, according to a report from Lodging Econometrics, released today. The average selling price per room climbed to $107,988 in the third quarter, marking an 86 percent increase over 2009′s average selling price per room, $58,190. Although the average selling price per room isn’t back to peak levels — it hit $119,553 in 2007 — the rebound in pricing has managed to occur without disrupting the number of transactions. This year, so far, has seen 466 reported transactions, up from the same time period a year ago, which saw 405 transactions. [Hotel-Online]

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Financing woes may loom for Cowboys legend-turned-possible-hotelier Emmitt Smith, whose proposed Harlem hotel will cost $81 million to develop, according to the Wall Street Journal. The football great has a Dec. 31 deadline to get going on construction, before a federal financing package will expire. The hotel, which is slated for a lot on the corner of 125th Street and Lenox Avenue, is expected to created around 81 permanent jobs and 129 construction jobs, if the project comes to fruition. The proposed hotel would include retail and community establishments, according to Smith’s firm, ESmith Legacy — a supermarket and YMCA are among the tenants expected for the development. [WSJ]

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