Fairmont Hotel in Washington, DC Sold for $180 Million
December 15, 2014 - Fairmont MetLife, Inc.(NYSE:MET) today announced that it has acquired the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C., for $180 million from Ivanhoe Cambridge. The 415-room Fairmont has a four diamond rating from AAA and is one of the premier luxury hotels in the nation's capital.
MetLife is the sole owner of the hotel, which is located in the West End of the capital next to historic Georgetown. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts will manage the property for MetLife. Washington, D.C., is one of the country's most stable hotel markets.
“We're very pleased to add such a high-quality and well-known hotel as the Fairmont Washington to our portfolio,” said Robert Merck, senior managing director and global head of real estate investments for MetLife. “This was a great opportunity to acquire a luxury asset in a top tier market. It will complement our strategic approach to real estate and generate the kind of steady cash flows we need to meet our long-term policyholder obligations.”
The Fairmont was built in 1985 and renovated in 2002. In addition to 385 guest rooms and 30 suites, the hotel has 28,000 square feet of meeting space and 4,800 square feet of executive conference space. It is also one of only three hotels in the capital with a large outdoor amenity space.
“We are pleased with this transaction, which brings us closer to the completion of our long-term hotel sales program,” said Sylvain Fortier, Executive Vice President, Residential, Hotels and Real Estate Investment Funds at Ivanhoe Cambridge.
With more than 100 years of real estate investment experience, MetLife is one of the largest investors in the industry, with nearly $59 billion in real estate invested assets, including $43 billion in commercial mortgages and nearly $16 billion in equity investments as of September 2014. Investing in real estate provides MetLife with opportunities designed to match the long-term liabilities the company writes through its insurance products.
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