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Winston Hotels Building Evanston, IL Hilton Garden Inn Under Joint Venture with Regent Partners, Inc. RALEIGH, N.C., Jan. 25, 2000 – Winston Hotels, Inc., (NYSE: WXH), today announced it expects to begin construction on a $20 million, 175-room Hilton Garden Inn during the spring of 2000 with a grand opening before the holiday season in 2001. This is Winston’s second Hilton Garden Inn development project under a joint venture agreement with Regent Partners, Inc., a leading real estate development, investment and services firm.
The full-service Hilton hotel, with more than 4,000 square feet of meeting space, will be situated on Maple Avenue adjacent to the campus of Northwestern University. The site is a part of an urban entertainment complex being developed by Arthur Hill Co. in a public-private venture with the City of Evanston. Evanston is located approximately 12 miles north of downtown Chicago and 12 miles east of Chicago-O’Hare International Airport.
“Evanston is a leading Chicago suburb as well as a major center for business and education-related travel in its own right, given the North Shore’s strong economy and outstanding universities,” said Winston Hotels President and COO James D. Rosenberg.
“We are excited to team up with Regent Partners to develop this area’s first Hilton Garden Inn—one of the lodging industry’s most successful full-service, upscale brands.” Under the terms of the joint venture, Regent and Winston will co-develop the hotel and receive fees for their respective services including consulting, interior design and purchasing. Winston will have an ownership level of 49 percent and Regent an ownership level of 51 percent in the project. Winston has the right to acquire Regent’s interest subject to the provisions of the joint venture agreement.
Winston’s first joint venture project with Regent, announced in June, is a $16.5 million, full-service 158-room Hilton Garden Inn hotel in Windsor, Connecticut.
Winston Hotels is a lodging real estate investment trust (REIT) and owner/developer based in Raleigh, North Carolina that specializes in upscale full-service hotels. The Company currently owns 51 operating hotels with 6,904 rooms in 13 states.
Rosenberg noted that new hotels, which tend to outperform older properties in terms of average daily rate and occupancy, complement the young asset age of Winston’s portfolio. “Furthermore, our joint venture with Regent helps expand Winston’s affiliations with the leading upscale brands. In addition to Hilton Garden Inn, our portfolio features Courtyard by Marriott, Residence Inn, and Homewood Suites. Joint venture projects also broaden our hotel acquisition and development pipeline despite the external capital constraints still prevalent in the real estate sector, and allow us to leverage our management team’s new hotel development expertise to generate fee income, thus enhancing the Company’s bottom line,” he added.
Reid Freeman, Vice President of Regent Partners, commented: “We are enthusiastic about our second Hilton Garden Inn development with Winston and we look forward to breaking ground on the Evanston site. This joint venture allows us to combine our own unique expertise in hotel development with Winston’s selective, quality-oriented approach to building and acquiring new hotels in solid markets. This approach offers both our organizations the potential for attractive financial returns. Lodging industry trends also favor the leading brands in the top-performing upscale segment, which is Winston’s specialty.”
About Regent Partners Regent Partners, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of J. A. Jones, Inc., is dedicated to delivering development services that create and enhance value for its national and international real estate client base. Established in 1983 and headquartered in Atlanta, Regent Partners is regarded as one of the most versatile and experienced firms in the U.S. Its comprehensive set of industry disciplines includes development and investment as well as a wide range of real estate services. Guided by a group of respected professionals whose industry experience is complemented by their market knowledge, Regent Partners strives to build profitable long-term relationships with investors, owners, brokers and those seeking equity sources by providing solutions to a wide range of needs and opportunities.
The press release contains “forward looking” statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including but not limited to, statements referring to the anticipated benefits and development plans of the new joint venture.
Contact: Karen F. McCray, Investor Relations Manager of Winston Hotel, Inc. at 919-510-8003, www.winstonhotels.com Also See: Winston Hotels Forms Joint Venture to Develop Upscale Hotels With Regent Partners, Inc. / June 1999