Mr. C Beverly Hills sells to Monty Bennett’s Braemar Hotels

The 138-key Mr. C Beverly Hills is being sold to Braemar Hotels & Resorts, marking the real estate investment trust’s first Los Angeles acquisition.

Monty Bennett’s Dallas-based company entered an agreement to buy the luxury hotel along with its five condominiums next door for about $80 million, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Braemar owns five other properties in California, including the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines outside San Diego. The deal is expected to close July 9. Remington Hotels, one of Bennett’s other companies, is set to manage the property.

The Mr. C building opened in 1965 and was overhauled in 2011. It was operated by the Cipriani family, which also owns a stake in the Mr. C brand. The condos next door were designed by famed architect Ray Kappe.

Cipriani and developer Bob Ghassemieh of Atlantic Pearl partnered to build the condo units next door in 2016. The branded residences opened a year later.

Braemar Hotels, which owns 13 properties in the U.S. and Caribbean, temporarily suspended operations at 11 of them last spring at the onset of the pandemic. The REIT’s revenue fell from $487.6 million in 2019 to $227 million last year.

Braemar is among a handful of subsidiaries of Ashford Inc. The parent company and its subsidiaries received $68 million in federal Paycheck Protection Program funds last year, payments that were criticized because Ashford had other means to stay afloat. The company later agreed to return the money.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission later opened an investigation into some of Ashford’s companies — including Braemar — over payments made concerning debt negotiations.

[DMN] — Dennis Lynch