• W Atlanta Downtown Hotel   

Excerpt from CoStar

REIT Says It Is Working With Trust Representing Three Banks to Hand Back Keys to 14 Hotels in Eight States

Ashford Hospitality Trust has given back the keys to five hotels to a mortgage lender, a move completing a transfer announced earlier this year, to help it shore up its balance sheet after the onset of the pandemic rocked its economic fundamentals.

This leaves the Dallas-based REIT with 95 U.S. hotels in its portfolio, with another 14 hotels expected to officially transfer to a trust representing three borrowing banks by early next year after the real estate investment trust told investors it would hand back the keys to 19 hotels because it made financial sense.

The five hotels that are no longer part of Ashford's portfolio are Embassy Suites Flagstaff in Flagstaff, Arizona; Embassy Suites Walnut Creek in Walnut Creek, California; Marriott Bridgewater in Bridgewater, New Jersey; Marriott Research Triangle Park in Durham, North Carolina; and the W Atlanta Downtown in Atlanta, Georgia.

The REIT's executives confirmed the successful transfer of the five hotels to its mortgage lender and confirmed it was continuing to work with lenders tied to two other loan pools on "a consensual transfer of ownership of those hotels to the lender," with that transfer expected before early 2024.

"The company is fully cooperating on a consensual transfer of ownership," the REIT said in a statement, adding that it's not in litigation with those lenders. 

Click here to read complete article at CoStar.