San Diego-based SENTRE Partners has acquired the Sommerset Suites Hotel at 606 Washington St in Hillcrest. SENTRE plans to convert the building to 80 apartments and rebrand it The Whitson, according to Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, which repped the buyer. The seller was Irvine-based Pacifica Hotels.

The value of the deal was not disclosed, but the San Diego Business Journal reports the property sold for $19.5M based on title documents obtained by Atlas Hospitality Group, which was not involved in the transaction.

The project, which sits on a 0.8-acre site, was originally built in 1986, according to the CoStar Group. HFF said the property was designed as a boutique apartment community. The seller converted it to a hotel in the mid-1990s, but left most of the apartment amenities intact, including a pool and spa, a barbecue area, a dining room and a business center. HFF brokers said The Whitson will include studio and one-bedroom apartments with 96 parking spaces, 80 of which will be covered.

HFF’s Hunter Combs, Scott Hall and Aldon Cole led teams that handled the sale and loan financing through a life insurance company. The deal closed Jan. 4. [SDBJ]