Sept. 03–WALNUT CREEK — A local real estate investment group has bought out a Minnesota hotel company to enlarge its empire with some 4,000 rooms. The investment group also plans to build more hotels, including one in Walnut Creek.
Financial details of the buyout were not revealed, but Hall Equities Group plans to invest more than $40 million in improvements of ZMC Hotels, according to a news release issued Wednesday.
To help finance the purchase, investment groups under Hall Equities sold two Walnut Creek properties and one of the West’s largest open-air malls, Monte Vista Crossings in Turlock.
The group also sold The Arroyo, a luxury apartment complex under construction on Arroyo Way in downtown Walnut Creek, to an unidentified life insurance company. The six-story, 100-unit project is due to be completed this fall.
Hall remains the general contractor and will manage the Arroyo, according to the news release.
Another Hall Equities investment group sold the 41,000-square-foot 2890 North Main Street office building, long home to a US Bank regional office.
ZMC Hotels owns and operates private label boutique hotels and others licensed by companies such as Hilton, Marriott, IHG, Wyndham and others.
Zenith Asset Co., an affiliate of Hall, will hold the master leases and manage all the hotels, along with other properties. Hall Equities Group and Zenith will be headquartered in Walnut Creek with Mark Hall as the CEO for both companies.
Hall will keep some senior ZMC Hotels managers in Duluth, Minnesota; Kansas City, Missouri; and Scottsdale, Arizona, but will consolidate accounting and construction in his Walnut Creek office.
Contact Andrew McGall at 925-945-4703. Follow him at Twitter.com/andrewmcgall.
