March 01, 2012--The Holiday Inn in Norwich and the SpringHill Suites in Waterford were sold Tuesday to a Greenwich corporation, completing at least part of a sale announced by the former owners last August.

In August, the Hersha Hospitality Trust announced plans to sell 18 hotels for a combined total of $155 million to the Starwood Capital Group of Greenwich in a corporate debt-reduction move. The Norwich Holiday Inn and SpringHill Suites in Waterford both were listed in the projected sale, as was the Residence Inn in Mystic.

The Norwich Holiday Inn sold Tuesday for $5.5 million, and the SpringHill Suites also was sold Tuesday for $5.5 million, both to limited liability companies affiliated with the Greenwich firm -- in Norwich called VIII-HII-Laura BLVD LLC and in Waterford called VIII-HII-North Frontage Road LLC.

The sales were recorded in land records in Norwich and Waterford Tuesday, giving Norwich $27,490 in conveyance tax revenue and Waterford, $13,486. A small portion of the Waterford hotel's land crosses the New London border, so New London received $550 in conveyance tax revenue.

According to records at the Secretary of the State's office, VIII-HII is located at 511 Putnam Ave., Greenwich, with Jerome Silvey as the principal. Silvey is vice president and chief financial officer of Starwood Capital.

Starwood Capital Group is a privately held global investment firm with interests in hotels and resorts, real estate finance and energy-related investments.

Silvey was not available to comment Wednesday.

The sale marks the third time in the past nine years that the Holiday Inn in Norwich, formerly a Ramada, has been sold, each time for a lower price. A company called New Innkeepers of Norwich LLC purchased it in April 2003 for $7.6 million and sold it to Hersha Norwich Associates in May 2005 for $7.2 million.

Hersha did extensive renovations of the property, but sold the hotel for $1.7 million less than the company had paid for it.

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