REAL ESTATE

Starwood to Buy 8 Hotels for $309 Million: Los Angeles-based Starwood Lodging Trust said it agreed to buy the properties from New York-based Teachers Insurance & Annuity Assn., a leading pension fund. The purchase of the hotels, stretching from Los Angeles to Boston, would boost Starwood’s hotel holdings by 23% to 65 properties and 16,741 rooms. The deal is expected to close by the end of August. A Starwood affiliate, Starwood Lodging Corp., will take over management of the hotels. The properties include the Doubletree Hotel LAX in Los Angeles and the Doubletree Hotel at San Diego’s Horton Plaza. Including this purchase, Starwood has bought or agreed to buy 25 hotels with 8,700 rooms over the last year at a total cost of about $700 million.