Downtown hotel sold, will be converted to Radisson Blu

A California investment group closed Tuesday on its $28 million acquisition of the Radisson Plaza Hotel Minneapolis, clearing the way for the downtown hotel to be converted to a Radisson Blu.

The buyer is San Francisco-based Chartres Lodging Group, which paid just under $29 million for the hotel.

Chartres is expected to spend another $25 million to $30 million to convert the 360-room hotel to a Radisson Blu. The cost is based on estimates of the conversion included in marketing materials Carlson used when it was offering the property for sale.

Chartres signed a long-term contract with Minnetonka-based Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group to manage the hotel.

Chartres has done numerous hotel renovations around the country, but this is its first Minnesota property. The group typically holds properties for three to six years and then sells them to institutional investors, according to its website.

The Radisson Blu renovation will begin in the next few months and should be complete in 2014.

Preliminary plans include upgrades to the common areas and guest rooms and suites, increased conference and ballroom space, and updates to the existing onsite restaurant, FireLake Grill House and Cocktail Bar. The street-level entrance will also be freshened with new signage, lighting and finishes.

It will be the second Radisson Blu in the Twin Cities, joining the 500-room Radisson Blu Mall of America that opened March 15. There are about 230 Radisson Blu hotels worldwide today, and another 51 projects under development.

The Minneapolis property will become a great example for future Blu conversions, said Matt Van Slooten, president of Minnetonka-based Carlson Real Estate Co. And Chartres should be a good fit for the property, Van Slooten said.

"This is their specialty," he said. "They did a similar [renovation] in New York. They've got expertise to oversee construction management and design."

Stonehill & Taylor Architects, based in New York, will be the lead architect, working with Scotland-based Graven Images, which has worked on other Radisson Blu hotels. The Atlanta-based John Hardy Group will be project manager overseeing the renovations.

The Radisson Plaza Hotel occupies 17 floors of the 36-story Plaza Seven building located on 7th Street between Nicollet Avenue and Hennepin Avenue.

The hotel was recently legally separated from the attached office tower and parking garage components of the property, which  Carlson Real Estate sold in February for $46.3 million to a partnership between New York-based Angelo, Gordon & Co. and San Francisco-based City Center Realty.

Reported by:  Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal