Sheraton Tampa Riverwalk on sales block
Tampa Bay Business Journal - 10:33 AM EDT Monday, September 10, 2007

Crescent Hotels & Resorts is buying the Sheraton Tampa Riverwalk Hotel for an undisclosed amount.

Driftwood Hospitality, based in Jupiter, has only owned the hotel since late 2004 and included Lehman Brothers in the project as a joint venture partner.


Crescent will spend $6 million to upgrade the hotel and expand its meeting and function space by 4,500 square feet. It will also complete the rooms and lobby renovation that Driftwood began when it purchased the hotel.

Located at 200 N. Ashley Drive downtown, the 277-room Sheraton currently has 12,000 square feet of meeting space and a business center. Eighty percent of the hotel's guests are business customers.

Driftwood changed the flag from Radisson to Sheraton in 2005 after spending $8.5 million on renovations at hotel, which was built in 1968.

Headquartered in Fairfax, Va., Crescent owns and co-invests in hotel real estate and is an independent, third party operator of hotels and resorts. It currently owns or operates 38 upscale and mid-market hotels and resorts with more than 6,000 rooms in 19 states.

http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2007/09/10/daily3.html?surround=lfn

I've never been impressed with that hotel, and still wonder why it was renovated, not redeveloped.

^Indeed. Lousy hotel on a precious site.

I realize that it is short and a little unspectacular of a hotel/building, but the thing that gets me about it is it lacks any street interaction/retail.

Gibalter should've bought it and added on to Venu's design.
But maybe we'll see a more impressive hotel go up.

^It will take years before it's worth junking a building that $14.5mil was just dumped into over the past 3 years.

Riverwalk Sheraton Hotel Sold
By TED JACKOVICS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 11, 2007

TAMPA - A Virginia-based hotel operation company has agreed to purchase the Sheraton Tampa Riverwalk Hotel and invest $6 million in upgrades, adding 4,500 square feet of meeting space and other improvements.

Crescent Hotels and Resorts of Fairfax, Va., said Monday that it expects to complete the purchase of the 293-room hotel along the Hillsborough River at 200 N. Ashley Drive by month's end. The company did not disclose the purchase price.

Lehman Bros. and Driftwood Hospitality own the hotel in a joint venture called DHM Tampa Hotel LLC. The hotel is expected to remain under the Sheraton flag, Crescent officials said Monday.

In addition to expanding the meeting space to 11,300 square feet, Crescent said it intends to complete a renovation of rooms and the lobby that was started several years ago.

'It is always nice to see new owners wanting to go ahead and invest additional dollars and upgrade facilities,' said Steve Hayes, executive vice president of the Tampa Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The deal is one of a recent series of local hotel transactions, and more are expected as national hotel management companies refine their portfolio of properties.

More than $230 million in hotel transactions was reported locally in the past 24 months and another $100 million is pending, The Plasencia Group, a Tampa-based hotel consultant, said last month.

In addition, about 20 new hotels are under construction or in planning stages in Tampa, The Plasencia Group reported.

The Sheraton hotel property has undergone myriad changes in ownership and branding since it opened in 1968.

It opened as the Manger Motor Inn and became the Tampa Hilton Inn in 1974. It was sold in 1989 and renamed the Riverside Hotel-Tampa. In 1997, it became the Radisson Tampa Riverwalk.

DHM Tampa Hotel paid $17.5 million for the property in 2004 and it became a Sheraton after a short period of being called the Tampa Riverfront Hotel.

Reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at (813) 259-7817 or tjackovics@tampatrib.com

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/sep/11/bz-riverwalk-sheraton-hotel-sold/

Agreed, that hotel has always been a tad lackluster and ill situated on such a prime piece of riverfront property. As was pointed out, not very foot traffic friendly or for that matter commuter friendly. The parking is abominable if you ever have to attend a conference there and comes at a premium. Unfortunately, as Jason also pointed out there is little chance that it will be redeveloped in the foreseeable future. I was never fully aware that it dated to the 60's but it makes since now that I look at it again.

Lot is too narrow for real street interaction but people working downtown do go to the restaurant - which has nice water views