DiamondRock in Agreement to Purchase the Westin Atlanta Perimeter Center
ATLANTA, GA, Apil 27, 2006. DiamondRock Hospitality Company ("DiamondRock") today announced that, in conjunction with Noble Investment Group, it has entered into a definitive binding agreement with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide to acquire the 369-room Westin Atlanta North at Perimeter Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The hotel will be acquired for total consideration of $61.5 million, and the acquisition is expected to be completed in early May. In addition, DiamondRock intends to invest an additional $3 million of capital improvements in the hotel over the next year. The hotel is forecasted to generate $6.3 million of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (or "EBITDA") over the next 12 months, $3.7 million of EBITDA during the remainder of 2006.
The hotel will remain a Westin-branded property and Noble will manage the hotel upon acquisition. "We believe this is an attractively priced acquisition of a high quality hotel in a solid market," commented William W. McCarten, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of DiamondRock.
"Perimeter Center is one of the best lodging markets in the southeast with over 23 million square feet of office space and such major demand generators as General Electric, Microsoft, Eli Lilly as well as three world-class hospitals located less than one mile from the hotel," added John Williams, President and Chief Operating Officer of DiamondRock.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws and regulations. These forward looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as "believe," "expect," "intend," "project," and other similar terms and phrases, including references to assumptions and forecasts of future results. Forward- looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to differ materially from those anticipated at the time the forward-looking statements are made. These risks include, but are not limited to: national and local economic and business conditions, including the potential for additional terrorist attacks, that will affect occupancy rates at our hotels and the demand for hotel products and services; operating risks associated with the hotel business; risks associated with the level of our indebtedness; relationships with property managers; our ability to compete effectively in areas such as access, location, quality of accommodations and room rate structures; changes in travel patterns, taxes and government regulations which influence or determine wages, prices, construction procedures and costs; our ability to complete the Westin Atlanta North acquisition. Although the Company believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that the expectations will be attained or that any deviation will not be material. All information in this release is as of the date of this release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in the Company's expectations.




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