HHR Euro acquires Crowne Plaza Amsterdam

HHR Euro has acquired Crowne Plaza Amsterdam City Centre hotel for EUR 72mln in the third significant hotel deal in the Dutch capital in the space of a few days. Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels acted for the vendor, a joint venture between private investors (owning 83%) and Intercontinental Hotel Group (17%).

JLL said there is a proposal to undertake a EUR 17mln upgrade and refurbishment of the 270-room Crowne Plaza. The hotel, which is within walking distance of Amsterdam Central Station and Dam Square, features two restaurants and three meeting rooms.

'Amsterdam is a highly attractive investment market and this sale highlights that demand remains strong for highly desirable prime-located hotels in the core European cities during this turbulent time in the financial markets, ' said JLL Hotels executive vice president Rob Seabrook.

HHR Euro, the buyer, is a joint venture established in March 2006 between Host Hotels & Resort, the Dutch pension fund for public employees ABP, and an affiliate of GIC Real Estate (GIC RE), the property investment arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. The joint venture now owns 11 upmarket hotels in Spain, Italy, UK, Poland, Belgium and the Netherlands, including the Hotel Arts in Barcelona and Westin hotels in Milan and Venice.

Last week Accor announced the sale of the Grand Hotel in Amsterdam to an unnamed private investor in a sale-and-manageback deal valued at a total of EUR 92mln. Accor said the buyer is paying EUR 60mln for the hotel and investing an additional EUR 32mln in renovation work. Accor will continue to run the hotel under a 25-year management contract and retains a 40% interest in the ownership company.

Also last weeek, Nedstede - the owner of a number of properties on Amsterdam's upmarket shopping street PC Hooftstraat - acquired the four-star College Hotel in the city from educational group ROC. The hotel was opened three years ago under the management of the Stein Group and is run by students following hotel management and tourism courses. The transaction price was not disclosed.

US property fund manager Apollo Real Estate Advisors announced last February that it was selling the 41-room Dylan hotel in Amsterdam to a private investor for an undisclosed sum. Originally created by British designer Anouska Hempel, the hotel was launched as Blakes hotel in 1999 and renamed The Dylan in 2005. The hotel is located in a 17th century building in the heart of the city overlooking the famous Keizersgracht.