A Dallas commercial real estate broker is circulating a document advertising the Little Rock Marriott for sale.
The 20-story hotel at 3 Statehouse Plaza, previously known as The Peabody Little Rock and as the Excelsior before that, opened as a Marriott in 2013 after it was leased from the city by Fairwood Capital LLC of Memphis. Fairwood spent $16 million to renovate the hotel.
The document, which bears the name of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP, does not contain a list price for the lease. Calls to HFF, Fairwood Capital and the city of Little Rock were not returned by deadline.
Arkansas Business will update this story.
“Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, L.P., is pleased to offer, on an exclusive basis, the opportunity to acquire the 418-room Marriott Little Rock, a 20-story full-service hotel attached to Little Rock’s Statehouse Convention Center in the heart of the CBD,” the document states. “With over 40,000 square feet of on-site function space at the Marriott, and an additional 220,000 SF at the attached Convention Center, the Marriott is Little Rock’s premier group facility.”
Gretchen Hall, president and CEO of the Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau, said Fairwood is advertising the property to gauge interest and might sell the lease if they receive a good offer. She added that the bureau has had a good relationship with Fairwood.
The hotel’s land and facility are owned by the city of Little Rock. Hall said, if Fairwood does accept an offer, its long-term lease with the city would be transferred. The deal would have to be approved by the Little Rock Advertising & Promotion Commission and the city board of directors.
Hall said she doesn’t think the hotel would be rebranded if it is sold, though the new lease holder would have the opportunity to do so.
The offering document states that the property is being offered “free and clear” of an existing management agreement with Davidson Hotels & Resorts, which operates the hotel for Fairwood Capital. It also touts the hotel’s proximity to the state Capitol, the Clinton Presidential Library, the River Market District and Robinson Center.
The document also cited “favorable market dynamics,” noting “very little new hotel projects under construction across the entire Little Rock market …”
“… [T]he Marriott will not see any new meaningful competition and will continue as the dominant full-service property well into the foreseeable future,” it said.
The Marriott reported revenue of $8.84 million in the first five months of 2015, the last period in which Advertising & Promotion Commission data was available to the public. Legislation introduced by then-Rep. Micah Neal, a Springdale restaurateur, made that information exempt from the subject to the state Freedom of Information Act before Neal left the Legislature and pleaded guilty to a federal corruption charge.
Sign up for Daily E-news
