The Blackstone Hotel Set for Reopening and Also Being Listed for Sale

Some commercial real estate for your Thursday (via Real Deal):

One week before the Blackstone Hotel reopens after a year-long closure, its owners have put the 335-key South Loop property on the market.

Sage Hospitality Group and Fundamental Advisors enlisted Hodges Ward Elliott to sell the historic building at 636 South Michigan Avenue, according to Crain’s. The asking price is not known.

The 22-story building has been closed during the pandemic, and as it prepares to welcome guests back, the Chicago hotel market is still stuck in second gear.

Sage spent some $128 million to renovate the historic hotel in the 2000s. In 2016, Fundamental bought into the property and the duo plowed in close to $12 million more in upgrades. They also agreed to a franchise deal with Marriott; it is now part of the Marriott Autograph collection, Crain’s reported.

On a practical level, interesting to hear that the hotel is finally reopening which seems to be a sign that they believe we're moving beyond the worst parts of the pandemic.

Outside of that, hard to read too much into the listing.  Is it a bigger trend or just a company that's needing/wanting to sell?  Probably the latter in our opinion.