Ashford Hospitality sells Back Bay Hilton for $171M 

Monty Bennett’s Ashford Hospitality Trust made good on selling one of the dozen hotels its been looking to offload as it faces financing getting ready to mature.

New York-based Cetares Management and California-based Belcourt Capital Partners acquired the Hilton Boston Back Bay for $171 million, the Boston Globe reported. The 25-story, 390-key hotel in the Back Bay neighborhood marks Cetares’ second hospitality acquisition in Massachusetts.

The firm’s head of real estate, Nolan Hecht, told the Globe the property drew interest from other potential buyers for a transformation into college housing, which Northeastern University is plotting nearby at the 428-key Sheraton Hotel. 

The incoming owners of the Hilton — one of only three of the brand’s properties in Boston — expect to invest between $25 million and $30 million to update the property, renovating rooms, the lobby and common areas. The hotel, which includes a 209-space parking garage and restaurant/bar, is expected to stay open during renovations.

Ashford acquired the property in 2011 as part of a 28-hotel, $1.3 billion portfolio purchase. This year, however, Ashford put a dozen of its hotels up for sale, including the Hilton, as part of a plan to raise funds to pay off financing set to mature in January 2026, as well as to deleverage its balance sheet; $68 million in proceeds from the Hilton sale are being earmarked for those purposes. 

Months earlier, Ashford made plans to surrender 19 of its properties to lenders and has aggressively moved to sell properties since.

The Back Bay submarket is one of the strongest for hotel owners in the area. In February, it ranked third among Boston neighborhoods in revenue per available room, trailing only North/West End and the Seaport.

— Holden Walter-Warner

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