Hyatt Hotels Corp. has sold three of its Chicago-area hotels -- the Hyatt Lisle, Hyatt Deerfield and Hyatt Rosemont -- for $51 million.
All three, however, will remain Hyatt-branded properties under long-term franchise agreements with the buyer, a joint venture between Area Property Partners and Aimbridge Hospitality.
The Area/Aimbridge partners also plans to invest $13.5 million in capital improvements at the three properties, the company said in a statement last week.
Stephen Haggerty, Hyatt's global head of real estate and development, said the sale "supports our strategy of recycling capital in order to expand the presence of Hyatt hotels in markets in which we are not represented or are underrepresented."
Hyatt recently announced that it would introduce its first property in Oklahoma on Jan. 1 under a long-term franchise agreement with Aimbridge that converts the Crowne Plaza in downtown Tulsa to the Hyatt Regency Tulsa.
Affiliates of Area Property Partners are the majority owner of a joint venture that owns the Hyatt Regency New Orleans as well as the Hyatt Regency Rochester (N.Y.) and Hyatt Regency Tampa.