THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 15, 1997 TAG: 9702150335
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 44 lines
Two of the owners and managers of the Omni Waterside Hotel in Norfolk acquired the Virginia Beach Pavilion Towers Resort/Conference Hotel Friday, hotel officials announced.
Westport, Conn.-based HEI Hotels and New Jersey-based Prudential Real Estate Investors purchased the Virginia Beach hotel for an undisclosed amount. Harvey Moore, regional director of operation for HEI Hotels, said the sales prices reached the multimillion-dollar mark but declined to elaborate. The transaction closed Friday.
Moore said the two firms may franchise the Virginia Beach hotel, which is in the city's resort district. It used to be a Radisson hotel.
The purchase of the 292-room hotel signals the beginning of the partnership's hotel acquisitions, officials said.
``This is the first acquisition made under our previously announced strategic alliance with Prudential by which we expect to invest up to $200 million in hotel acquisitions in 1997,'' said HEI president Gary Mendell.
The two companies are interested in acquiring more hotels in Hampton Roads, Moore said.
Prudential and HEI began negotiating to buy the 12-story Virginia Beach Pavilion Towers six months ago. They plan to complete a $3.5 million renovation of the property, which includes upgrading all the guest rooms, a reconfiguration of the food and beverage facilities, as well as the addition of electronic locks to guest room doors. All the public spaces, including the lobby, the ballroom and the conference/meeting spaces, will be redecorated.
``This was a hotel that fit our criteria,'' Moore said.
In conjunction with Intertech Corp., Prudential Real Estate Investors and HEI Hotels already own and manage The Omni Waterside Hotel in Norfolk.
HEI Hotels specializes in management and ownership of upscale, full-service hotels averaging 200 to 500 rooms. It boasts annual revenues of $10 million to $25 million. The company is ranked one of the largest and fastest growing hotel management companies in the United States.
Prudential Real Estate Investors is a unit of Prudential's Private Asset Management Group, one of the nation's largest managers of real estate investment for pension funds and other institutions. Both divisions are part of the $9 billion Prudential Insurance Co. of America.