Six weeks have slipped by – without any pronouncements — since word leaked that the global-minded Carlyle Group quietly had put the prestigious DoubleTree Hotel and two nearby properties on the market.
The pending transactions likely would have escaped wide notice if the Carlyle Group had not detonated an excitement bomb a year ago this month. They proposed a broad economic makeover of a southerly Culver City neighborhood, ostensibly anchored by their holdings. The controversial inclusion of undefined signage throughout the targeted area set off months of discussion that didn’t slow until April when Carlyle’s withdrawal became known.
Their departure, City Hall assured residents, will not jeopardize the intended upgrade in a mixed neighborhood that includes Fox Hills and Hotel Circle.
Steve Rose of the Chamber of Commerce, one of the community’s best informed leaders, whose office is in the shadow of the DoubleTree, does not believe any definitive action has occurred since late April.
Not that trumpets would blare before an agreement is complete.
“I don’t believe any choices have been made,” said the Chamber’s chief executive. “Carlyle probably has set up a deadline for bids. I have no idea when that would be. They will tell us when they want us to know.”
As for the price tag the DoubleTree could fetch, hotel sales commonly are linked to the number of rooms, in this case 380.
Estimating a sale price would be tantamount to leaping from a cliff, said Mr. Rose, for this reason:
“This year alone, I have seen sales ranging from under $100,000 per room to over $1 million per room.
“A hotel that sells for a million dollars a room and has 39 rooms, has a different pro forma from the DoubleTree that has a 500-seat ballroom.”
Mr. Rose said that with mid-town Culver City residences selling for more than a million dollars, commercial sales are a new and wider open world.
