Apple Hospitality Snaps Up Hampton Inn & Suites in Atlanta

By Gail Kalinoski

Hampton Inn and Suites by Hilton Atlanta Perimeter Dunwoody

Richmond, Va.-based Apple Hospitality REIT Inc. has expanded its holdings in Georgia with the acquisition of the 132-key Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Atlanta Perimeter Dunwoody for approximately $29.5 million, or $223,000 per key.

“We are pleased to strengthen our presence in Atlanta with the acquisition of this Hampton Inn & Suites. The hotel opened in May 2016 and is situated in the heart of the Perimeter Center area, one of Atlanta’s largest business districts, where it will benefit from the area’s wide variety of corporate demand generators and convenience to an array of dining and shopping options,” Nelson Knight, executive vice president & chief investment officer of Apple Hospitality, said in a prepared statement.

The hotel is located at 4565 Ashford Dunwoody Road in Atlanta, in close proximity to numerous corporate operations including State Farm, Mercedes-Benz USA, Cox Enterprises, UPS, First Data and Cisco Systems. It’s also near Perimeter Mall, Northside Hospital Atlanta, Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite hospital and four MARTA rail stations. The property has a business center with conference and meeting rooms, a fitness center and an indoor pool.

The seller was not identified, but the hotel was developed and opened by Atlanta-based Hotel Development Partners in November 2016, as part of a mixed-use project that included 25,600 square feet of retail and restaurant space.

Apple Hospitality owns eight properties in Georgia and three in Atlanta now, including the 119-key Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Atlanta-Downtown at 161 Ted Turner Dr., NW, which was acquired in February along with the 144-key Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Memphis-Beale Street in Memphis, Tenn., for a combined price of $63 million, or approximately $240,000 per key.

Apple Growing Portfolio

In May, the REIT acquired the newly built 201-key Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton in Phoenix for approximately $44 million. A month earlier, Apple Hospitality entered into a contract for the potential purchase of a dual-branded Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton and Home2 Suites by Hilton in Cape Canaveral, Fla., for $47 million. The planned property has a combined total of 224 keys and is scheduled for completion in 2020.

The REIT’s portfolio currently includes 243 hotels, with more than 30,900 guestrooms in 34 states. In addition to the Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton and Home2 Suites by Hilton, the company’s hotels operate under the Courtyard by Marriott, Fairfield Inn by Marriott, Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott, Marriot Hotels, Renaissance Hotels, Residence Inn by Marriott, SpringHill Suites by Marriott, TownePlace Suites by Marriott, Embassy Suites by Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites by Hilton brands.

Apple Hospitality has been growing since September 2016 when its merger with Apple REIT Ten Inc. was completed, creating one of the largest upscale, select-service lodging REITS in the industry, with a value at that time of about $5.7 billion. Apple Hospitality REIT had been formerly known as Apple REIT Nine Inc., and had resulted from previous mergers of Apple REIT Seven Inc. and Apple REIT Eight Inc. into one company in March 2014.

Hot Hospitality Market

The REIT’s expansion in Atlanta comes at a time when the city’s hotel market is strong, with market-wide occupancy achieving a historical high in 2017 of approximately 70 percent, according to a Hotel Valuation Index report by hospitality industry consulting firm HVS. The report notes that Atlanta is a hot spot for new hotel developments, due to demand generated by major corporations located in the region, as well as the city’s standing as a site for major sporting events such as the Super Bowl, which will be held in the new $1.6 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2019, and the NCAA Men’s Final Four, scheduled for 2020.

There are approximately 4,000 hotel guestrooms under construction in Atlanta, part of an overall 1.4 percent increase in supply in Georgia, where 50 hotel projects are in development, according to Marcus & Millichap’s 2018 Hospitality North American Investment Forecast. The report also noted that transaction velocity in Georgia rose at a faster pace in 2017 than 2016, up 17 percent. Most of those sales were in the Atlanta metro, with buyers targeting the city’s southern and northwestern areas.

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