Norwalk, Conn., June 6, 2011—Officials of HEI Hotels & Resorts (HEI), the nation’s fastest growing private owner/operator of hotel real estate, today announced that the company has sold the 174-room Algonquin Hotel in New York City, for an undisclosed price. Under the terms of the deal, HEI will continue to operate the hotel on behalf of its new owner.
 
“We purchased the hotel through our initial fund (Fund I, raised in 2004) and have since then completed a renovation and affiliation with Marriott’s Autograph Collection brand” said Steve Mendell, president—acquisitions and development. “This transaction enabled us to cycle out of the investment, yet continue to maintain our presence in the attractive Manhattan marketplace.”
 
Located off of Times Square at 59 West 44th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, the property arguably is the most “literary” hotel in the world. Home of The Algonquin Roundtable in the 1920s, the property has played host to many of the world’s most illustrious writers and personalities, including Dorothy Parker, H.L. Mencken, Gertrude Stein, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., John Barrymore and Helen Hays. William Faulkner drafted his Nobel Prize acceptance speech at the hotel, and Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Lowe wrote “My Fair Lady” in Lerner’s suite
 
“HEI continues to build relationships with an ever expanding group of hotel owners,” said Anthony Rutledge, HEI chief financial officer. “We look forward to working with the new owner and will through HEI’s unique operating platform continue to add value to this iconic asset as a third-party operator.”
 
About HEI Hotels & Resorts
HEI Hotels & Resorts, headquartered in Norwalk, Conn., is a leading hospitality investment firm that acquires, develops, owns and operates full-service, upper upscale and luxury hotels and resorts throughout the United States under such well-known brand names as Marriott, Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien, Embassy Suites, Hilton, Marriott’s Autograph Collection and Luxury Collection by Starwood.  For more information about HEI, visit the company's website, www.heihotels.com.