Aloft, Three Other Properties Sold by CSK in $30 Million Deal

Fort Smith holding company CSK Hotels Inc. closed on a deal in early June to sell four of its hotels for $30 million. New York-based real estate investment firm The Lightstone Group was the buyer.

The four properties in the purchase are Aloft in Rogers, Towne Place Suites by Marriott in Springdale, Towne Place Suites by Marriott in Little Rock and Fairfield Inn and Suites in Jonesboro.

“We’ll renovate all of them, but only lightly because the owner did an excellent job of maintaining the buildings,” said Guy Crawford, vice president at Lightstone.

Lightstone’s portfolio includes retail, multifamily, industrial and office space throughout the United States. The purchase represents Lightstone’s first foray into Northwest Arkansas, Crawford said.

The hotels went on the market in 2010, said Storm Nolan, a partner at CSK.

“The economy got better and this was the opportunity to sell,” he said.

Nolan was adamant that the deal with Lightstone does not represent CSK’s eventual exit from the hospitality industry.

“We’ll still have six hotels,” he said. “We will definitely continue to be in the hotel business.”

While negotiations weren’t bitter, buying the hotels wasn’t necessarily easy, said Ron Danko, executive vice president at CB Richard Ellis Hotels, the agency that brokered the deal.

“They were very firm on their pricing,” said Danko, speaking of CSK’s stance.

Referring to the fact that the properties first went up for sale back in 2010, Danko sounded relieved when he said, “It’s finally coming to an end.”

Aloft, a six-story, 130-room property on South 52nd Street, opened in June 2008. According to tax collection data kept by the Rogers Advertising & Promotion Commission, the property had room revenues of $2.98 million in 2011 and $3.15 million in 2012

The most recent tax collections show the property had room revenue of $1.02 million for the first four months of 2013.