In one of the county’s biggest hotel deals this year, New York real estate investment trust Carey Watermark Investors Inc. has bought the Westin Pasadena for $143 million. CWI acquired the 350-room hotel, at 191 N. Los Robles Ave., from Norwalk, Conn. hotel investment group HEI Hotels & Resorts, which will continue to manage the property. The price amounts to roughly $408,000 a room. CWI was interested in the 266,000-square-foot property because it is well-located, according to spokesman Guy Lawrence. “It’s an attractive cash-flowing asset in a market that has strong demand with leisure and commercial travelers,” he said. CWI is investing $15.5 million toward a complete renovation of all guest rooms and other acquisition-related costs. The price per room is not considered high. Last month, L.A. billionaire David Geffen sold the 47-room Malibu Beach Inn for almost $80 million, or about $1.7 million a room. “The hotel market is healthy right now, with far more potential buyers than owners willing to sell – which makes the market ideal for owners who want to remove their capital and put it elsewhere,” said Bruce Baltin, of hospitality consulting firm PFK Consulting USA. In the last big sale in the San Fernando Valley, the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport hotel, the second-largest in the Valley at 488 rooms, changed hands for more than $100 million. AWH Partners LLC and Starr Cos., both in New York, acquired the 12-acre property adjacent to the Bob Hope Airport from Westbrook Partners, a New York private equity firm. An exact sale price of the Dec. 11 transaction was not released.
