RLJ Development LLC, the hotel investment company controlled by Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson, announced Monday it will spend $1.7 billion to buy 100 hotels from White Lodging Services Corp., including 14 properties in metro Denver.
“We are thrilled to add these hotel properties to the RLJ Development portfolio,” Johnson, the company’s chief executive and chairman, said in a statement.
The Colorado properties include the Marriott Boulder, the Renaissance Boulder Suites Hotel at Flatiron in Broomfield and the Fairfield Inn & Suites Cherry Creek in Denver.
“Denver’s hotel market is just starting to turn around, so I think we’re going to continue to see more and more sales in Colorado,” said Mike Cahill, president of Englewood-based Hospitality Real Estate Counselors.
Merrillville, Ind.-based White Lodging will continue to manage the hotels, most of which operate under the Marriott and Hilton flags.
The property sales will be staggered, with the first group of 87 hotels expected to close in the second quarter and the remaining 13 hotels, those under construction or recently completed, scheduled to close within the next two years.
Johnson also owns the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats and the WNBA’s Charlotte Sting basketball teams. He sold BET to Viacom Inc. for $3 billion in 2001. Bethesda, Md.-based RLJ, founded in 2000, owns 29 hotels in North America.
Staff writer Julie Dunn can be reached at 303-820-1592 or jdunn@denverpost.com.
