Lowe to Sell Hotel del Coronado

The historic red-roofed Hotel del Coronado in San Diego County is being sold to two institutional buyers for an estimated $385 million.

Los Angeles real estate firm Lowe Enterprises Investment Management . on Friday announced an agreement to sell the 115-year-old hotel -- immortalized in the 1959 Billy Wilder comedy “Some Like It Hot” -- to CNL Hospitality Properties Inc. of Orlando and La Quinta-based KSL Recreation Corp.

The $385-million price reported by trade publication Commercial Mortgage Alert “looks like a very good buy” for CNL and KSL, said industry consultant Alan Reay of Atlas Hospitality. The landmark structure on Coronado Island, one of the few surviving hotels of the Victorian era, is “truly irreplaceable real estate,” he said.

The hotel has 688 rooms and received city approval last year for an expansion that could include 205 rooms and a conference center.

Lowe bought the hotel for about $330 million in 1997 on behalf of a pension fund client. It completed a $55-million restoration and upgrade in 2001.

If the deal is completed, the Hotel del Coronado will bring majority owner CNL’s portfolio to 127 hotels in 37 states.