AUSTIN | Hotel Van Zandt | 197 FEET | 16 FLOORS | Complete

[ATX RE Attorney]

Had lunch in the café yesterday and also checked out Geraldine's. It's awesome.

[Tech House]

Wow, this place is fantastic! I presume just about everyone has seen this slideshow courtesy of the ABJ: http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/bl...=2015-12-02#g1

Very impressive, and every chair of every type looks so comfortable!

[AustinGoesVertical]

I stopped by here the other day. Magnificent interior, really unique to Austin with an emphasis on the music scene. This building proves how a large development can still enhance and not mask the city's identity.

[the Genral]

Photo by Arnold Mill from the bizjournal link in the above post of the boardroom.

I just looked at the slide show, the interior looks fantastic and no doubt will leave guests with an extraordinary first impression. However...I wouldn't recommend attending the boardroom with a hangover. I think the fun thing here would be for out of towners who look at the hotel from the outside and think...meh...then get blown away when they walk into the place, and even more blown away when they start exploring the inside. It looks world class.

[LoneStarMike]

From December 4, 2015

[urbancore]

Looks like they are repairing/replacing the entire north facing facade. The top few floors have bat insulation exposed. Surprised we haven’t heard anything in the news, clearly a big screw up.

[Geckos_Rule]

Originally Posted by urbancore

Looks like they are repairing/replacing the entire north facing facade. The top few floors have bat insulation exposed. Surprised we haven’t heard anything in the news, clearly a big screw up.

They are. Strange, since I hadn't heard of any problems with it before. But, as a Shore resident, I know they're using the same company that the Shore used, which is a big mistake. They were way behind schedule, and had no clue how to work in an occupied building.

[corvairkeith]

[JoninATX]

Did anyone ask what happened?

[the Genral]

Zooming in on it, it looks like water intrusion. Maybe from shoddy construction or materials, but my guess its from 5 years of north side exposure to wind and rain against shoddy materials and installation. If the other 3 sides are affected that would blow holes in my theory.

[Tyrone Shoes]

Host Hotels & Resorts Acquires Hotel Van Zandt
BETHESDA, Md., Feb. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ: HST), the nation's largest lodging real estate investment trust (the "Company"), today announced that it has acquired the fee simple interest in the Hotel Van Zandt, a 319-room luxury lifestyle hotel in Austin, Texas for a purchase price of approximately $246 million including its $4 million FF&E reserve.

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-r...on-Boston.html

[austlar1]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Shoes

Host Hotels & Resorts Acquires Hotel Van Zandt
BETHESDA, Md., Feb. 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ: HST), the nation's largest lodging real estate investment trust (the "Company"), today announced that it has acquired the fee simple interest in the Hotel Van Zandt, a 319-room luxury lifestyle hotel in Austin, Texas for a purchase price of approximately $246 million including its $4 million FF&E reserve.

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-r...on-Boston.html

If I am not mistaken, Host Hotels and Resorts is a Marriott controlled REIT. I think they recently bought the Hyatt Regency here in Austin as well.

[ILUVSAT]

Originally Posted by austlar1

If I am not mistaken, Host Hotels and Resorts is a Marriott controlled REIT. I think they recently bought the Hyatt Regency here in Austin as well.

https://www.hosthotels.com/our-portf...folio-overview

[We vs us]

One of the interesting things about that transaction was that, to finance the Van Zandt acquisition, Host sold off the Sheraton Boston. The difference between the two hotels couldn't be more pronounced. Sheraton Boston is 1220 rooms, built next to Hynes Convention Center, and has functioned up till recently as one of the city's major HQs for major conventions. It's a little older, and probably in need of some updates, and is further away from some of the newer Convention halls in the city. Sale price was $233M.

The Van Zandt -- 319 boutique rooms, participates very rarely in convention business -- was bought for $246M.

Post pandemic, it's one of the starker deals out there -- proving essentially that sunbelt boutique hotels drive a HUGE premium over snowbelt convention hotels. All the new received wisdom about how people will travel after COVID is wrapped up in a pretty little package with a bow on top.

[austlar1]

Originally Posted by We vs us

One of the interesting things about that transaction was that, to finance the Van Zandt acquisition, Host sold off the Sheraton Boston. The difference between the two hotels couldn't be more pronounced. Sheraton Boston is 1220 rooms, built next to Hynes Convention Center, and has functioned up till recently as one of the city's major HQs for major conventions. It's a little older, and probably in need of some updates, and is further away from some of the newer Convention halls in the city. Sale price was $233M.

The Van Zandt -- 319 boutique rooms, participates very rarely in convention business -- was bought for $246M.

Post pandemic, it's one of the starker deals out there -- proving essentially that sunbelt boutique hotels drive a HUGE premium over snowbelt convention hotels. All the new received wisdom about how people will travel after COVID is wrapped up in a pretty little package with a bow on top.

^^Just Wow! Very interesting news.