Dallas Trust Buys Hyatt Newporter

NEWPORT BEACH — A Dallas real estate trust agreed Monday to purchase the sprawling, 410-room Hyatt Newporter hotel from a Seattle partnership for an undisclosed amount.

The 34-year-old Hyatt Newporter, the first resort hotel built in Newport Beach, was among six hotels being acquired by the trust, Patriot American Hospitality Inc., for $83.3 million.

The hotel had been taken over by the federal Resolution Trust Corp. in 1991 from a failed thrift, Columbia Savings & Loan, which had paid $26.1 million.

After being on the market for about four years, the hotel was sold about a year ago by Resolution Trust to a Seattle partnership, WestCoast Hotels Inc., for $7.1 million.

Patriot American has no plans for major renovations at the Newporter, spokesman Jerry Daly said.

“There is not going to be any significant upgrading to the property--it’s in pretty good shape,” he said.

“It’s a good property, and they project good returns.”

Other hotel experts weren’t so sure.

“That property needs major improvements,” said Donald Wise, a longtime hotel broker with CB Commercial in Anaheim.

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“It’s a duck-billed platypus. It’s neither fish nor fowl.

“It’s a delightful old California property, but the world has changed so much.”

Patriot American, a collection of hotel properties, also acquired the right to purchase a 192-room hotel in Long Beach owned by Forte Hotel Inc.

The Dallas trust, which owns 23 hotels, went public with a $350-million offering in October 1995, the largest for the year.