In the surprise of the week department, Starwood Capital announced earlier this week that they would be putting their Crillon hotel on the market – hoping to get around $420 million dollars for the property.

They are looking to sell it to a private investor rather than a major hotel chain, which suggest that Starwood may still intend to open additional Crillon hotels throughout the world, but it still begs the question – why would Starwood sell such an important asset to their future plans (as they've stated in the past)?

Going back even a few months ago, Barry Sternlicht was interviewed on Bloomberg TV, and he stated how the Crillon was an important asset – one which really sets the tone for high end, luxury hotels – so its a surprise to see them placing the property on the market, not only that but real estate prices aren't exactly booming right now – if the sale were to be put off a few years Starwood would probably see a significantly higher sale price. The sale almost speaks of desperation – but I don't exactly think that Starwood Capital is dying for money – even in these trying times.

Could Starwood's intentions be to just simply get the Crillon building and property of their balance sheet, while still owning the name and running the day-to-day operations of the hotel through their management firm? Or is Starwood really giving up on the Crillon name and history that they spoke so highly of when it was first purchased, and even intended to create a 6-Star hotel brand based on the Crillon.

It's also possible that this is some type of a ploy to see what the value of the Crillon would be – but since they apparently hired Eastdil Secured to market the property it would look bad if their intentions were to just make people run around looking to sell a property that they never had intentions to sell in the first place.

Starwood is still listing its intentions to open additional locations on their Groupe Du Louvre website, but they state (and this hasn't changed since I initially saw it a few years ago) that Starwood "expects to capitalize on the name of Crillon", not necessarily hold on to the original building.

We'll see what happens with this property – it's no secret that Starwood has been looking to sell some of their hotel assets to a Saudi investment group – but still, the Crillon? The creme-de-la-creme?

This is almost too difficult to believe.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

Andrew Calvo is a 26 year old Commercial Real Estate Advisor in New Jersey. I live in Tinton Falls, NJ. This blog is about my passions - primarily hotels, commercial real estate, and development, etc.

Since I have been in High School I乫ve had numerous jobs, but the field which has always interested me is Real Estate, Hotel Development and Construction. I consider myself a zealot in that area - I try to absorb as much as I possibly can, take the experiences that I learn, or read about and use them in my life. 

www.passionsofazealot.com