Apple Hospitality REIT Inc. has acquired the AC Hotel by Marriott Louisville Downtown for $51 million, or approximately $327,000 per key, and the AC Hotel by Marriott Pittsburgh Downtown for $34 million, or approximately $254,000 per key.
“We are pleased to enhance our portfolio with these attractive acquisitions that highlight the strength of our relationships with best-in-class hotel owner-operators and our ability to drive value in a highly competitive marketplace,” said Nelson Knight, president, real estate and investments, Apple Hospitality. “These thoughtfully designed hotels offer guests modern accommodations, comfortable meeting spaces and distinctive lounge areas, and are well positioned within their markets to benefit from a variety of business and leisure demand generators. We continue to actively explore additional opportunities, like these, that will optimize our portfolio in ways that will elevate our future performance and maximize long-term value for our shareholders.”
The 156-room Louisville property opened in April 2018 and is located within the East Market District, also known as NuLu or New Louisville. The hotel benefits from a variety of leisure, academic and sports-related demand generators given its proximity to the KFC Yum! Center, the University of Louisville, the Kentucky International Convention Center, bourbon distilleries, various outdoor spaces and parks, and Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby.
Recent Louisville hotel performance has recovered to pre-pandemic levels. According to data provided by STR for the month of September as compared to the same month in 2019, RevPAR for the Louisville CBD submarket improved by approximately 2%, and RevPAR for the AC Hotel Louisville Downtown improved by approximately 8%.
The 134-room Pittsburgh property opened in July 2018 and is adjacent to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and near downtown Pittsburgh’s Cultural District, Market Square and Strip District. The hotel is close to PPG Paints Arena, Acrisure Stadium and PNC Park, which are home to Pittsburgh’s professional sports teams and significant drivers of leisure travel to the area. Also nearby are the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.
In recent months, Pittsburgh has seen hotel performance exceed pre-pandemic levels, and according to year-over-year data provided by STR for the month of September, RevPAR for the Pittsburgh CBD submarket improved by approximately 17%, and RevPAR for the AC Hotel Pittsburgh Downtown improved by approximately 36%.
Following these acquisitions, the Apple Hospitality portfolio includes 220 hotels with 28,983 guestrooms in 37 states.
