WOODLAND HILLS, CA—Private real estate investment and development firm Laurus Corp. has acquired the Marriott Warner Center hotel .
The 16-story, full-service hotel features 474 guestrooms, four food and beverage outlets, including a signature restaurant, and more than 28,000 sq. ft. of indoor/outdoor meeting space, including an 11,000-sq.-ft. Grand Ballroom.
Woodland Hills is located in the heart of Los Angeles County’s San Fernando Valley region, an area that accounts for nearly 50 percent of the City of Los Angeles’ residents. In addition to a large and growing population, the Valley also boasts an extremely diverse economy, including corporate demand driven by the entertainment, financial services, education and healthcare, and insurance sectors, as well as aerospace/defense and high-technology firms.
“The acquisition of Marriott Warner Center is another step forward executing Laurus’ focused investment strategy: seeking prime value-add opportunities requiring complex structuring, active management, repositioning and significant renovation opportunities,” stated Phil Cyburt, CEO of Laurus Corp. “With the influx of new businesses and expansion of corporate campuses in the area, along with the [San Fernando] Valley’s projected 3.5% population growth over the next four years, there is tremendous opportunity to maximize the asset’s ability to generate revenues in both the corporate and leisure segments.”
The Marriott Warner Center is near the Ventura (101) Freeway, in an area that has been dubbed the “101 Technology Corridor” due to the recent development and growth of technology companies in the region. The hotel is located in the center of the Woodland Hills/Warner Center development, a corporate hub with more than 10.3 million sq. ft. of office space. In addition, the hotel is adjacent to the 614,400-sq.-ft. Westfield Promenade mall and the 1.6 million-sq.-ft. Westfield Topanga Shopping Center. It also is convenient to numerous Los Angeles attractions, such as Universal Studios/Universal CityWalk, the Getty Center, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, California State University Northridge, Pepperdine University and Six Flags Magic Mountain.
“The Marriott Warner Center is a prime business hotel in one of the country’s top gateway markets, and Woodland Hills in particular continues to enjoy robust demand from the multitude of corporate headquarters and mission-critical offices located in the area. Coupled with Laurus’ ability to consistently execute on value-add business plans and achieve attractive risk-adjusted returns, this acquisition represented an ideal opportunity to allocate capital from Laurus’ private equity platform, Ethika Investments,” added Jean Paul Szita, President of Laurus Corp.
“The hotel’s guests will benefit from a $10-million renovation that will refresh the public areas and guestrooms and enhance the hotel’s abundant amenities. Our firm places substantial importance on maximizing guest satisfaction through improving the physical appeal of the asset, providing exemplary service, enhancing the dining experience and being responsive to guest needs, down to the smallest details,” note Douglas Kiel, CFO of Laurus Corp.
