Kalthia Group Hotels Buys San Jose Super 8 by Wyndham

Kalthia Group Hotels is continuing its San Jose hotel-buying spree with another acquisition on the north side of town.

The San Diego-based hotel investment and management firm purchased the 88-room Super 8 by Wyndham for $8 million, Mercury News reported, citing documents filed on Tuesday with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office.

The purchase at 2050 North First Street is the latest in a string of hotel acquisitions in the Silicon Valley city for Southern California-based Kalthia Group.

In December, the firm bought the 114-room Sonesta ES Suites San Jose Airport hotel at 1602 Crane Court in north San Jose for $16 million. The next day, Kalthia plunked down another $15 million for a second Sonesta ES Suites, this one featuring 138 rooms at 900 Hamlin Court in Sunnyvale. Early last year, Kalthia proposed converting the Sonesta ES Suites rooms into housing, though the current status of the plan is unclear.

Super 8 by Wyndham properties across the Bay Area have made headlines over the past year as they fall into default and face foreclosure. A two-hotel complex consisting of a Motel 6 and a Super 8 by Wyndham at 2560 Fontaine Road in San Jose defaulted on a $21.7 million loan from Choice Hotels International last June. The Super 8 by Wyndham in Livermore defaulted on a $7.7 million State Bank of Texas loan in 2022, leading the owner to file for bankruptcy.

Other hotels in the region have been confronting loan defaults and looming foreclosures over the past year. Many of these distressed properties are in San Jose. A year ago, the 541-room Signia by Hilton hotel, the largest in the city, was taken back by its lender through a foreclosure proceeding that valued the property at $80 million. And just last week, the 59-room La Quinta Inn & Suites, which opened in 2023, defaulted on a $16 million Central Valley Community Bank loan.

Meanwhile, few new hotels are coming online in the region. Just 15 hotels totaling 1,610 rooms were under construction last year, marking a 34.3 percent drop in rooms and a 28.6 percent decline in hotels year over year, according to Atlas Hospitality Group data.

— Chris Malone Méndez