Hana Fin, Hotel Lotte buy Seattle hotel for $175 mn

Hana Financial Investment Co. Ltd. and Hotel Lotte Co. Ltd. have acquired the hotel portion of a 44-story building in downtown Seattle for $175 million, just after KKR & Co. snapped up the office space on upper floors.

Hana and Lotte set up a 70:30 real estate investment trust (REIT) in the US to buy the hotel portion of the F5 Tower from private equity firm Stockbridge Capital Group, the two South Korean companies said on Dec. 29.

Lotte will operate the 189-room hotel set to open under the brand name of Lotte Hotel Seattle in June 2020. Hana is seeking stable dividend incomes from the REIT.

The luxury hotel, occupying the lower 16 floors, has been vacant since completed in 2017 after the planned sale to LA-based hotel brand SLS fell apart in 2017.

For the fully-leased office space, KKR announced its purchase on Dec. 23, in a deal estimated at about $440 million.

The building is located in the vicinity to offices of big-name companies including Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks, Apple and HP.

The acquisition is part of Hotel Lotte’s effort to expand abroad to better compete with global chains such as Marriott and Hilton. It is also seeking to boost fee incomes by operating hotels owned by others.

By Jae Kwang Ahn

ahnjk@hankyung.com