Hyatt Hotels Corp. (H), the chain controlled by the Pritzker family, agreed to purchase the Peabody Orlando Hotel for $717 million to accommodate convention travelers in the Florida tourist destination.
The sale of the 1,641-room hotel, attached to to the Orange County Convention Center, is expected to be completed in October, Hyatt said today in a statement. The property will be renamed the Hyatt Regency Orlando Convention Center.
?This transaction brings us a very high-quality hotel in one of the most popular cities in the world and enhances the Hyatt Regency brand,? Stephen Haggerty, global head of real estate for Chicago-based Hyatt, said in a statement.
The hotel will be the company?s sixth in Orlando and the first one associated with conventions. The property has more than 200,000 square feet (18,600 square meters) of group facilities, along with more than 2 million square feet at the Orange County Convention Center, which will give it the most meeting space of any of its U.S. Hyatt Regency properties.
The seller is an affiliate of Memphis, Tennessee-based investment firm Belz Enterprises and Orlando-based Estein & Associates USA Ltd.
The hotel recently had a $440 million renovation and Hyatt said it doesn?t plan to invest ?significant capital? in the near future.
Hyatt expects the property to generate about $10 million in fourth-quarter?earnings?before in interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. That will rise to about $55 million for 2014.