St. Regis resort in Aspen to become first U.S. single-asset REIT

Elevated Returns’ St. Regis Aspen Resort hotel is set to become the first single-asset real estate investment trust traded on a U.S. stock exchange.

Called Aspen REIT, it was given approval last month from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Elevated Returns plans an initial public offering later this month and looks to sell 1.675 million shares at $20 a piece, keeping 51 percent of the shares for itself, according to the Commercial Observer.

Elevated Returns president Stephane De Baets told the Observer the company will bring in Citadel Securities to promote liquid trading of the REIT shares. He called the plan a “democratization of the investment model” and believes the model could inspire more like it.

“The market-maker is very incentivized to keep the market liquid,” he said. “If the first [single-asset REIT] is successful, there’ll be 20 of these.”

The luxury St. Regis Aspen Resort hotel in Aspen, Colorado, is the New York-based firm’s largest asset. It purchased the Sunset Tower in Los Angeles in 2015 for $75 million and sold it last year for $92 million. It also has restaurant properties in New York.

The St. Regis Aspen has 179 units in two five-story buildings, according to Real Capital Analytics. Elevated Properties purchased the property in 2010 in a joint venture with De Baets’ Bangkok-based OptAsia Capital firm for $70 million and since invested $50 million in renovations. They refinanced with a $100 million mortgage from KSL Capital Partners in 2015.

The resort property also includes five restaurants, a full-service spa, butler service, and is two blocks from the Aspen Mountain ski resort, according to the Observer. [CO] – Dennis Lynch