A Charlotte-based lodging investor just scooped up the 252-room Hilton Alexandria Old Town for $58 million, roughly half of what it traded for in 2018, in a deal that puts the squeeze on an already stressed D.C.-area hotel market. The sale closed March 31 and moves the King Street property out of Ashford Hospitality Trust's portfolio.
Ashford disclosed the disposition in an 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which identifies Lodging Capital Partners LLC as the buyer and pegs the cash price at $58 million for the 252-room hotel, according to the company's 8-K filing. The filing also includes unaudited pro-forma financial statements that show a preliminary non-recurring loss tied to the sale.
Ashford paid about $111 million for the Hilton Alexandria Old Town in 2018, making the new price roughly $230,000 per key. That earlier deal was reported by REBusinessOnline.
The buyer, Lodging Capital Partners, notes on its website that it was formed in 2005 and has invested in a portfolio valued above $1.5 billion, targeting value-add, upper-upscale hotels. The company is described as being based in Charlotte and lists 1942 E 7th Street as its office address on its site, which also outlines the team behind the acquisition, per Lodging Capital Partners' website.
The transaction lands as Ashford works to unload assets in order to handle rising debt and operating losses. The Real Deal reports that the company failed to refinance a roughly $590 million hotel portfolio that went to special servicing in mid-2024, with occupancy in that group dropping to 33% in 2020 and recovering only to about 56% as of March 2024.
How the deal breaks down
Exhibit 99.1 to Ashford's 8-K details total consideration of approximately $57.3 million in cash net of selling expenses and shows that Ashford paid about $32.5 million to retire the mortgage secured by the property, according to the SEC filing. The company outlines a preliminary pro-forma hit to its projected 2025 results stemming from the sale.
Why buyers are circling
Steep discounts like this are pulling fresh capital back into the Washington region, where debt pressure and choppy demand have left some hotels trading well below their last sale price. The Real Deal notes that Lodging Capital Partners recently refinanced a 470-room Georgetown hotel, a sign that investors remain hungry for D.C.-area hospitality assets even as some owners head for the exits.
What's next for Ashford
Ashford has said the sale will help reduce leverage, although it will also lock in a one-time loss tied to the transaction. The company has indicated it plans to keep selling properties to stabilize its balance sheet. Coverage from Investing.com and Ashford's own filings provide the most detailed public look at this latest sale as market watchers track whether more hotels will trade at similar markdowns.
For Alexandria, the deal returns a prominent Old Town hotel to private ownership at a sharp discount and underscores how uneven the hospitality recovery remains from block to block and market to market. Ashford's SEC filings stand as the primary public record of the transaction while investors and operators gauge whether additional D.C.-area properties are headed for the same kind of price reset.
