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The W Washington D.C. Hotel, a luxury property across the street from the White House, could soon have a new name.
The hotel is being sold to Pimco, a Newport Beach, California-based investor, which plans to remove the W Hotel flag and run it as an independent hotel, the Washington Business Journal reports.
The sale has not yet been recorded in public records. A spokesperson for Marriott International, which operates the W Hotel brand, confirmed in a statement to Bisnow that the property is coming under new ownership.
"We are disappointed that the new owners of the W Washington D.C. have decided to run the hotel as an independent," the Marriott spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement. "We wish them the best in this next chapter for this storied property."
The property is currently owned by Isthithmar Hotels Washington LLC, an affiliate of the Investment Corporation of Dubai. It was last assessed at $105.5M, according to property records.
The W Hotel flag is one of Marriott International's luxury brands. It has 67 locations worldwide, including 28 in North America, according to its website. The W Washington D.C. Hotel is its only location in the District, and it doesn't have any in Maryland or Virginia.
The 326-room hotel at 515 15th St. NW opened in 1917 as the Hotel Washington, and in 2007 it was converted to the W Hotel. The hotel completed a $50M renovation in 2019.
The hotel, like many in downtown areas, has struggled throughout the coronavirus pandemic as it heavily relies on business and convention travel, segments that have been slower to recover than tourism.
W Hotel General Manager Meade Atkeson, who declined to comment for this story, told Bisnow in June that the hotel reached about 35% occupancy the week after Memorial Day. He said its weeknight occupancy has hovered around 25%, compared to 95% during normal years, and its weekend occupancy has been around 50%, compared to its typical level of 85%.
"Very few hotels are making money right now," Atkeson said in June. "So many larger hotels depended on group [business], and there's still very little group in the city."
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