Blackstone buys twin hotels in El Segundo for $97M

Seller Rubicon paid $26.9M for the properties in 2013

The Fairfield Inn at 525 N. Sepulveda Boulevard and Blackstone's head of real estate Jonathan Gray
The Fairfield Inn at 525 N. Sepulveda Boulevard and Blackstone's head of real estate Jonathan Gray

Blackstone has been cashing out of the L.A. office market at breakneck pace, but it still likes hotels.

The New York-based company paid a combined $97 million for twin hotels in El Segundo — a 350-room Fairfield Inn, operated by Marriott at 525 N. Sepulveda Boulevard and a 246-room Aloft hotel by Starwood at 475 N. Sepulveda Boulevard.

The seller was Rubicon, which acquired the properties for $26.9 million in 2013, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported.

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The El Segundo market has been notably active over the past several years. Six of the 10 hotels in the area have traded hands since 2014, according to CoStar. Blackstone already owns a third hotel in the submarket: the Hyatt Place on Nash Street, which it acquired for $24.8 million as part of a 15-property portfolio sale.

Blackstone’s purchase is a departure from its office selling streak. In the past six months, the firm sold at least five office properties and listed two others in the L.A. area. Sources told The Real Deal last month that when it completes the streak, the firm will have tripled its equity investment from the commercial properties it bought when the market was last at a peak. [LABJ]Cathaleen Chen