Luxury hotel operator Jumeirah Group, a subsidiary of Dubai Holding, has acquired the five-star 109-room Le Richemond hotel in Geneva, Switzerland, for an undisclosed amount. The historic property was founded in 1875 and is situated in a prime position on the edge of Lake Geneva. Having been part of both the Rocco Forte and Dorchester collections at different times during the last 20 years, Le Richemond has been closed since the start of the Covid pandemic. Jumeirah will undertake extensive renovation works and plans to reopen the hotel in 2025. The group currently operates a portfolio of 26 luxury hotels across the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Le Richemond will be Jumeirah’s fifth property in Europe, joining The Carlton Tower and Jumeirah Lowndes hotels in London, Capri Palace in Italy, and the Jumeirah Port Sóller Hotel & Spa in Mallorca.
London-based family office Jastar Capital, owned by the Matharu family, has acquired the 75-room aparthotel Native Bankside in London, United Kingdom, for reportedly more than £40 million (over £533,000 per room) from Create REIT. The aparthotel, housed in a former Victorian tea warehouse, is located in Southwark, near Borough Market. The five-year-old property is the UK’s first BREEAM Excellent-certified aparthotel. The aparthotel will continue to be operated by Native Places, founded by Guy Nixon, under a new long-term management contract. Native Places has eleven properties in the UK cities of London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, York, Bristol, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Extendam, Atypio and Bpifrance have acquired, through their France Investissement Tourisme 2 fund, the four-star 74-room Mercure Omaha Beach, the four-star 107-room Mercure Rouen Centre Champ-de-Mars and the three-star 91-room ibis Rouen Centre Champ-de-Mars, a total of 272 rooms. The Mercure Omaha Beach is located 15 minutes from the D-Day beaches and is situated on the 36-hole Omaha Beach Golf Course. The two Rouen hotels are located in the city centre of Rouen. New F&B concepts and renovations are scheduled for each hotel. Additionally, there is planned refurbishment of the rooms for the two Mercure hotels and renovation works on the meeting rooms of the Mercure Rouen and ibis Rouen. Atypio, a new partner of Extendam, will operate all three hotels upon completion of renovations, increasing its managed portfolio to 19 hotels (1,643 rooms) across France.
Hova Hospitality, on behalf of Primonial REIM, has acquired the 226-room Village Club MMV Plagne 2000 holiday village in La Plagne, Savoie, in the French Alps, for a reported €27 million (€119,000 per room). The property is on a 13-year lease to hotel operator MMV, who specialises in mountain holiday properties and is the second largest operator in the French Alps. Previously an Aquarius Club and a Club Med, the property joined the MMV brand, now a subsidiary of Compagnie des Alpes, in 2020. Capital expenditure of €6.3 million was deployed by the previous owner-operator to refresh the property during the process of joining MMV.
Norwegian real estate firm Carucel Eiendom has acquired a historic property at Skovveien 15 in the neighbourhood of Frogner, in the western part of Oslo, Norway, near the Royal Palace, for a reported NOK 177 million, approximately €16.9 million. Originally built in 1898 and operated as the West Hotel from 1960s to 2000, the property has been run by Frogner House Apartments in recent years, with the ground floor of the building home to some of the most famous restaurants in the city. This acquisition marks the second aparthotel in Oslo to be operated by German boutique aparthotel chain NUMA Group, with the other one set to open in the second quarter of 2023 as NUMA Hallen. The subject property is expected to open to guests in March 2023 as NUMA Topp. NUMA’s fully digital aparthotels account for some 3,000 units across Europe.
Art-Invest Real Estate has acquired the 203-room Premier Inn Braunschweig City Centre hotel in Braunschweig, a university town in north-central Germany, for its Core-Budget Hotel fund, from German real estate investment company DIO Deutsche Immobilien Opportunitäten, owned by Philipp and Moritz Kraneis. Managed by British hotel operator Whitbread, the property is the largest hotel in the town and also houses other retailers on the premises with long-term leases, including a bakery, optician and hair salon. Built in 1982, the asset was completely renovated in 2015-16 and had 29 rooms added in 2021-22. Art-Invest’s Core-Budget Hotel fund has further acquisitions in the economy hotel segment planned for the future.
A subsidiary of Premier Inn has acquired a 157-room Berlin hotel project in Germany from Nuremberg-based developer Project Immobilien Wohnen und Gewerbe, for an undisclosed sum. Construction is set to begin this year and to be completed in 2025, with Premier Inn being the owner-operator of the hotel. Located near the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport, Project Immobilien is also developing office spaces next to the hotel. With this latest acquisition, there will be five Premier Inns in Berlin in the near future, totalling nearly 1,200 rooms. Whitbread is planning to expand its Premier Inn portfolio to 80 hotels across Germany over the coming years. This marks the second hotel asset sold to Premier Inn by Project Immobilien, with the first one being a 296-room development at the Business Park Berlin.
Part of Germany-based Doric Group, real estate and renewable energy investment firm Quadoro Investment has acquired the three-star 149-room Holiday Inn Express Offenburg in south-west Germany, on behalf of its Quadoro Sustainable Real Estate Europe Private fund, for an undisclosed amount. The seller is Hospitality 1 Offenburg, a JV between Oxalis REIM, Zeitgeist Estates and Property3 Group. Completed in August 2021, the hotel meets the fund’s requirements in terms of energy and CO2 emission efficiency. The property is leased to Tristar hotel group, a franchise partner of IHG, and is located just five minutes away from the main train station and 30 minutes from Europa-Park.
Dutch hotel investment firm European Hotel Capital (EUHC) has acquired the 101-room Best Western Plus City Hotel Gouda in Gouda, the Netherlands, from Dutch real estate company Holland Property Group, for an undisclosed sum. Opened in August 2012 and located in the historical city centre, next to the Gouwe River canal, the property contains an all-day dining bar-bistro and six meeting rooms. Holland Property Group has its largest investments in the retail sector, with an estimated total property value of €46 million.
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