Hersha Hospitality Trust to sell two West Coast hotels for $125m

Hersha Hospitality Trust has entered into definitive agreements to sell two of its West Coast properties for gross proceeds of $125 million, or about $455,000 per key.

The assets are Hotel Milo, an oceanfront luxury hotel in Santa Barbara, Calif., and Pan Pacific, a four-star luxury hotel in Seattle.

Hersha intends to use the proceeds from the sale to pay down about $45 million of debt and utilize the remainder for general corporate purposes, including (but not limited to) additional debt repayment and dividend payments.

“We’re pleased to have reached two separate agreements that are expected to increase our operational flexibility while furthering our long-term strategic objectives and delivering immediate shareholder value,” said Jay H. Shah, Hersha’s CEO. “The valuation of these two assets is yet another confirmation of the public-to-private market valuation gap for our portfolio, and we believe pricing on these two assets is more representative of