In today's installment of not-so-good news, I saw a story on the Adam's Mark Hotel in Buffalo soon to be sold for $7.5 million, almost half of what it went for a year ago. The drop in price is a glaring example of how far the market has fallen. Visions Hotels Inc., reportedly, is expected to close on the purchase this month, a year after Chartres Lodging Group LLC (note the story I linked to spells it Chartes, which is incorrect, by all accounts I can find) bought the 486-room hotel from HBE Corp. The new owners plan to renovate and reflag the hotel as a Crowne Plaza. The deal is being financed privately through a loan with M&T Bank.
I guess the good news is someone, somewhere was able to secure some money from a bank. Whether the price will ultimately be viewed as a steal or a ripoff will be determined by when, and where, rock bottom ends up being. But I'd have to think a property of that size with pretty strong occupancy numbers, according to the story, will be worth a lot more than that in a couple years when the cycle turns.
If the sale goes through, it will leave the Indianapolis location as the last of the Adam's Mark Hotels.