By Meghan Hall
The modest growth of Seattle’s hotel market has provided firms of varying sizes ample opportunity to invest in hospitality assets throughout the region. And, as Seattle-Tacoma International Airport continues its plans for expansion, hotels south of downtown Seattle are piquing the interest of investors. At the end of March, the Comfort Inn & Suites SeaTac, traded for $17.9 million, according to King County public documents. The seller was BHGAH Seatac LLC, an entity associated with Bakulesh G. Patel, while Seastar Hotel Investment LLC, another private investor associated Binchi Zhang of Bellevue, purchased the asset.
Located at 19333 International Blvd., the property is located just off of State Route 99 and is minutes from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Other hotels such as DoubleTree by Hilton, Holiday Inn Express & Suites and Radisson Hotel Seattle Airport are within the immediate vicinity, as are several smaller eateries and take out restaurants such as Mango Thai Cuisine & Bar. On-site amenities include a fitness center, conference room and laundry facilities. The 62,392 square foot property was originally built in 1987 but includes modern finishes such as granite countertops.
In March 2018, Zhang also purchased the Sleep Inn SeaTac Airport Hotel for $17.6 million, or $167,620 per room, from Che Investments, an entity associated with Unshik Che and Miran Che in Seattle. The 105-key property, built in 1999, is similar in its size and offerings to the Comfort Inn & Suites; property amenities also include a fitness center, business center and indoor parking.
According to a 2018 fourth quarter hotel report released by Kidder Mathews, lodging markets in the area recorded modest growth at the end of the year, although some of that growth was offset by new projects coming online. Over 3,300 rooms opened during 2018 throughout the. Seattle region, resulting in lower rates of occupancy in several submarkets such as Bellevue, SeaTac and South Lake Union. Overall, the tri-county lodging market currently has 440 hotels and 53,670 guestrooms, with 66 hotels opening over the past decade, increasing supply by 25 percent. The sale of the Comfort Inn & Suites sold for about market rate, according to the report, with most transactions under $20 million ranging in price from $66,406 per room up to $174,000 per room. While lodging demand is strong in most markets, said Kidder Mathews, market fundamentals for hotel properties are likely to remain flat due to the number of new hotel projects currently in the pipeline.
