HFF Closes Sale of SC Hotels

By Laura Calugar

The Candlewood Suites in Charleston, S.C.

HFF has announced the sale of a two-property Candlewood Suites portfolio totaling 249 guestrooms in Charleston and Bluffton/Hilton Head, S.C. HFF represented the seller, Liberty Group. Affiliates of DC Hospitality Group LLC purchased the assets unencumbered of debt and existing management, for an undisclosed amount.

Situated on 3.3 acres at 2177 Northwoods Blvd. in North Charleston, S.C., the 125-key Candlewood Suites Charleston Hotel is adjacent to Interstate 26 and proximate to the Charleston International Airport. The four-story building was developed in 2007 and revamped seven years later.

The 124-key Candlewood Suites Bluffton/Hilton Head Hotel is located on 3.3 acres at 5 Young Clyde Court in the Bluffton/Hilton Head area, a popular tourist destination in southern U.S. The hotel is at the epicenter of the 10,000-acre Sun City Hilton Head master-planned community along the US 278, the primary thoroughfare to Hilton Head Island. The hotel was built in 2010 and renovated in 2014.

The Candlewood Suites in Bluffton/Hilton Head, S.C.

The HFF team that closed the deal was led by Senior Managing Director Michael Weinberg, Associate Director Preston Reid and Director Chris Lingerfelt. “We continue to see robust interest for branded select-service and extended-stay assets in strong southeastern markets, especially when they have a strong going-in yield coupled with below replacement cost pricing,” said Reid in a prepared statement.

Previously, Liberty Group acquired the two hotels in 2013 and 2014 through its private-equity vehicle, Liberty Hospitality Fund I LLC.

Recently, HFF facilitated a $45 million refinancing for a hotel portfolio in Austin, Texas and Nashville, Tenn.

Images courtesy of InterContinental Hotels Group website