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Wednesday, May 12, 2010 -
Nob Hill's Huntington Hotel is for sale.
The Cope family, which has counted the Huntington as a family member for some 70-odd years, has placed the iconic San Francisco hotel on the block in an unusual portfolio deal that also includes La Playa in Carmel-by-the-Sea and the ground lease for the Stanford Court Hotel in San Francisco.
This portfolio, which is being sold as a corporation, has been in the family for years, so this is not a case of owners needing to shed distressed assets. Rather, this is an estate management play following the November 2005 death of the family patriarch, Newton Cope.
The properties have reportedly been marketed before, but without fetching a price that met family expectations.
The family's real estate holdings, Nob Hill Properties, Inc., is currently headed by John Cope, a past president of the Hotel Council of San Francisco.
The portfolio does not have an asking price.
The Huntington has never been for sale, and La Playa, situated on almost two acres near the beach in Carmel proper, is all but irreplaceable.
The Huntington has 140 rooms and 40 suites, the popular Nob Hill Spa and Big Four Restaurant and bar. It was built as a residential tower in 1924, and has no brand affiliations.
La Playa is as much a landmark property as the Huntington. It has 75 rooms, two ocean-view suites and six cottages. Like the Huntington, it comes unencumbered, which means that the buyer can choose a brand of its choosing to manage the hotel, which usually commands a premium. Carmel has made it all but impossible to build new hotel properties.
The Galleria Park Hotel at 191 Sutter St. has 177 rooms and 15 suites and is managed by Joie de Vivre Hotels. The hotel is not for sale, but rather is offered as a long-term ground lease agreement through August 2039.
Informed sources say there has been significant early interest from international buyers, some of whom may be looking to enter Northern California with trophy properties like the Huntington and La Playa.
Other sources say that the portfolio may be challenging to sell because the three properties come as a package and are being offered as a corporation rather than as a traditional, fee-simple transaction.
Holliday Fenoglio Fowler is marketing the portfolio, and declined to comment beyond a prepared press release.
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