San Francisco Chronicle December 14, 2010 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/14/BAD11GQ3KV.DTL When it comes to finding a movie movie set for wining, dining and entertaining, San Francisco is a natural. Keeping production costs for casts and crews down on a daily basis, however, isn’t always easy. “There is this impression that everything is expensive in San Francisco, that making a film is out of reach,” said Hiro Narita, a Bay Area-based cameraman who worked on “La Mission” in 2008. To attract more motion pictures and commercials to shoot in the city, the Film Commission today launched the Scene in San Francisco Vendor Discount Program offering participating productions discounts at businesses from restaurants and hotels to fitness clubs and entertainment venues. Production members would get a card, and vendors would get decals to post on their storefronts. And it’s free for both parties. “It’ll put another spotlight on San Francisco as being a place that’s looking for ways to work with filmmakers and have them consider it affordable instead of writing it off as too expensive,” said Susannah Greason Robbins, the commission’s executive director. The Fairmont San Francisco, which has not only accommodated but also served as a site for film crews since the mid-1950s, is offering 20 percent off best available rates in hopes of doing its part to keep productions from leaving California for states with cost-cutting incentives. “If we can get together as a city, we can collectively drive business back,” said Jessica Smith, the hotel’s marketing and film sales manager. In the 1980s and 1990s, feature films and commercial production crews stayed at The Fairmont every two months, Smith said, but in the past decade, the hotel has been “lucky if they come a couple times a year.” The commission is pushing for vendors to apply by Jan. 11. Participants will be listed on its website as soon as possible. Creating an incentive for productions with local vendors is an idea Robbins has been pursuing since taking office in January because there are only so many incentives local and state government can provide. In July 2009, the Board of Supervisors approved legislation for a rebate program to make qualifying productions eligible for a refund of some city fees and local payroll taxes. But incentives offered by states like Michigan, Louisiana and New Mexico still draw productions away. Through November of this year, the commission has issued 363 permits for 775 days of filming – an improvement from the same period last year, when 287 permits were issued for 597 days of filming. However, an estimated $136.7 million has been put back into the local economy this year, compared with $177.4 last year, a discrepancy Robbins attributes to smaller production budgets. “The economy is perhaps reflecting the budgets that productions are working with these days,” she said. The program provides a good incentive, considering rebates typically only affect producers’ decisions to come to the city, said Jonathan Shedd, a location manager for “Contagion,” an action-thriller directed by Steven Soderbergh that will film in San Francisco for a short period in February. “This one is more across the board, covering the other employees,” Shedd said. Elif Arslan, marketing manager for Fior D’Italia, said she does not have very high expectations for the program but is still offering a 15 percent discount because the restaurant will be promoted on the commission’s Web site. “It’s a good tool for us to be exposed and basically send out an invitation for them to come and eat here,” she said. But not everyone may be swayed by discounts. “I eat where I want, I shop where I want,” said Geoffrey Kirkland, a production designer for HBO’s drama “Hemingway & Gellhorn,” also set to begin shooting in February. “I don’t want to be influenced by getting a discount for something chosen by someone else.” However, that won’t stop business owners like Rodney Fong, who runs the Wax Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf. It is offering $3 off admission and 25 percent off retail store purchases. “There’s nothing to lose,” he said. “If we only attract or influence one more movie or commercial in San Francisco, all the better for us. [...]
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Baltimore Business Journal December 13, 2010 http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2010/12/13/chespeake-lodging-to-buy-san-frans-le.html Chesapeake Lodging Trust has signed a deal to buy the Le Meridien hotel in San Francisco for $143 million. The 360-room Le Meridien San Francisco is located in the city’s downtown financial district and is attached to Embarcadero Center, a 4-million square foot office and retail complex. The deal, expected to close on or before Dec. 31, is the latest in a string of hotel purchases for the Annapolis real estate investment trust, which went public in January. In November, the company announced a deal to buy the 195-room Homewood Suites by Hilton, Seattle Convention Center for $53 million. Chesapeake (NYSE: CHSP) owns four hotels in the Boston and Los Angeles areas. In October, Chesapeake raised $140.5 million through a public offering to expand its portfolio and pay off about $105 million in debt. [...] San Francisco Chronicle December 10, 2010 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2010%2F12%2F08%2FDDRG1GMJ18.DTL These days, 5 cents doesn’t get you much in San Francisco. But if it were 1886 and you were at Fior d’Italia in North Beach, a nickel would net a main course of sauteed veal or, for the true epicure, calf brains. Such is among the trivia you’ll encounter at “San Francisco Eats,” a free exhibition opening Saturday at the San Francisco Main Library. Through restaurant menus, photographs and other knickknacks, the show explores what’s become a given here – that San Francisco is a bona fide food town. “We kind of take that for granted, but why?” says guest curator Sheila Himmel, who organized the exhibition with Lisa Vestal, the library’s chief curator. “We look back to the Gold Rush, which brought in all these, well, unencumbered men. They didn’t cook, they lived in boardinghouses, they often ate out, and the ones that made money wanted someplace nice to go and show off their new wealth.” The result: more restaurants, more chefs and more immigrants, all hoping to strike it rich. Combine that with San Francisco’s compact geography and booming tourism, and the city’s food legacy was secure, the curators say. A stroll through the exhibition brings several nods to San Francisco’s yesteryear, with menus from the now-defunct Old Poodle Dog and Monaco Theater, as well as tributes to still-thriving institutions like Tadich Grill and Buena Vista Cafe. You’ll also find out what the Palace Hotel served for Christmas dinner in 1910, and learn about the saga of Shanghai Kelly, or where the old Fly Trap got its name (hint: swarms buzzing around horse-pulled carriages). With more than 400 items, mostly menus from storied restaurants, it’s a veritable trip down memory lane. “You can start to date yourself,” Vestal says as she walks through the exhibition. The collection spans 150 years, bookended by the Ward House’s menu from Dec. 27, 1849, and the Slanted Door’s menu from Sept. 22, 2010. A side-by-side comparison reveals the city’s long-running obsession with locally grown fare. Ward House advertises “Fresh California eggs” for $1 each – outrageously expensive for the time – while the Slanted Door boasts “California yellowtail” and meticulously details its sources for meat. What stands out most to the curators, though, are the quality and philosophy of the menus themselves. A menu from the old Benihana at the Kabuki Center is folded into the shape of a kimono, origami-style. The Five Seas Restaurant included a tutorial on how to use chopsticks. Menus from Tadich and Sears Fine Food chronicle their storied history. “For us, they were like art objects,” Vestal says. “Some menus had strings attached. Some were produced on letterpresses that are almost extinct. They were like little time capsules.” The exhibition kicks off Saturday afternoon in the library’s Koret Auditorium with a panel on how food is discussed in the city. Participants include “Bay Cafe” host Joey Altman, Hayes Street Grill owner-chef Patricia Unterman, and Himmel, a writer and former restaurant critic at the San Jose Mercury News. In January, the library’s regular Thursday noon screenings will feature food-oriented films such as “Julie & Julia,” “Waitress” and “Eat Drink Man Woman.” There are also related events at various branch libraries throughout the city. The entire exhibition runs through March 20. Inside: The Inside Scoop, plus reviews of Trader Vic’s and Bistro Sabor E2-E3 Sunday: Planning your holiday dinner: Five great roasts, plus Champagne. Food & Wine ‘San Francisco Eats’ The exhibition of menus, photographs, historic cooking gadgets, restaurant ephemera and more runs through March 20 at the San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin St. (at McAllister Street), San Francisco. Hours are noon-5 p.m. Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday and Saturday, 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, and noon-6 p.m. Friday. Admission is free. [...] Contra Costa Times December 9, 2010 http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_16809475 Red Lion Hotels Corp. has muscled into the Bay Area with new franchises at inns in Oakland and Concord, and the company said Wednesday that it hungers to expand even further in the Bay Area. Spokane, Wash.-based Red Lion Hotels has struck deals to re-brand the Park Plaza Hotel near Oakland International Airport and to re-brand the Holiday Inn Concord on Burnett Avenue. The company also signed a franchise license agreement to re-brand the Vagabond Inn Executive in Rancho Cordova, near Sacramento. “We want to have more brands in the Bay Area,” said George Schweitzer, chief operating officer with Red Lion Hotels. “Red Lion is known in this area. That brand is coming back.” Early next year, the 189-room Oakland hotel will be renamed Red Lion Hotel Oakland International Airport. Starting in January, the 189-room Concord lodging complex will convert to Red Lion Hotel Concord. “We are glad to be back in the Bay Area,” said Rich Carlson, a vice president for lodging development with Red Lion Hotels. “We would like to add a number of hotels to our brand.” The company has begun to scout for hotels in the South Bay, the Peninsula and San Francisco. Red Lion also might consider “one or two” more hotels in the East Bay, Carlson said. “There is a great opportunity in the Bay Area,” Schweitzer said. “Several other hotel owners have expressed interest in our brand. We are exploring these possibilities.” The sour economy is a big factor behind Red Lion’s push to secure re-branding deals. Tough times have caused room revenue to evaporate at numerous hotels in California. “Revenues are down for hotels in California,” said Alan Reay, president of Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality Group, which tracks the hotel market in the state. “Some of them are looking for new brands.” The types of hotels that are looking for new brands are big-name lodging places that are about 20 to 30 years old, if not more. Hotel operators pay money to hotel chains for the franchise right to have a brand name on the building. Typically, the more prestigious the name, the higher the price to have that particular brand name. “Owners who have Holiday Inn, Hilton, Marriott, a lot of them simply cannot afford to keep the brand on there based on the revenue the hotel generates,” Reay said. One case in point is a hotel in Ontario in Southern California that was sold rather than upgraded. The hotel would have cost $14 million to $15 million to upgrade to Marriott standards. Instead, the hotel was sold to a lesser-known operator for $12 million. “Red Lion stands to pick up a lot of older properties where it no longer makes economic sense to keep it a Holiday Inn, Hilton or Marriott,” Reay said. The new operators intend to undertake improvements in both rooms and public areas of the hotels. “We do a detailed property improvement plan with all of the hotels we take on,” Carlson said. “Some are immediate at the time of opening, such as signs. Other improvements are phased in.” The upgrades often include replacement of carpets, bedding and drapes. In addition, the lobbies and other public areas also are often renovated. “The arrival experience at a hotel is very important,” Carlson said. “When guests arrive at a hotel, we want them to know it is a Red Lion and that it is the kind of hotel they expect.” The hotel industry money squeeze could well open a number of doors for Red Lion. “For a brand like Red Lion, this is a great opportunity,” Reay said. [...] San Francisco Business Times December 8, 2010 http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2010/12/three-foreclosed-personality-hotels.html The three foreclosed Personality Hotels in San Francisco have found a buyer. Aspen Hotel Management Group, whose Provenance Hotels division has managed the properties since they went back to the lender, and AEW Capital Management had the winning offer for the Hotel Frank, Hotel Metropolis and Hotel Vertigo. Aspen Hotel Management has properties in Seattle and Portland, Ore. and it has been looking to enter the San Francisco market as hotel operators as well as hotel owners. This deal could be a first step to a bigger Bay Area presence. “San Francisco is our natural next move,” said Aspen President Bashar Wali. “We think the quality of our product will make us stand out and give us more international and national exposure.” Wali said that Aspen does not yet have specific plans for how it will position the three boutique hotels, or even how much it will invest in them. The renovations that Yvonne Lembi-Detert and Personality Hotels started on the Hotel Frank and Vertigo are not complete, so some additional capital investment is necessary. “We are glad we won them, and now the hard work begins,” Wali said. Centerline foreclosed on the hotels and was the seller; Eastdil Secured brokered the transaction. The purchase price was not disclosed, but Wali said he thought it was a fair price, and was not a rock bottom steal. AEW is a capital partner to Aspen, and the two firms could pursue additional hotel properties. The Hotel Frank is in the crosshairs of Unite Here Local 2, the local hotel workers union which is in the midst of a contract negotiation and is boycotting about a dozen San Francisco hotels, including the Frank. [...] Wall Street Journal Blog December 7, 2010 http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/12/06/research-highlights-slowest-price-increases-since-1981/ Price increases are decelerating at the greatest pace in nearly 30 years, a paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco said. The research, published Monday, offers additional evidence that ebbing levels of already-low inflation are moving ever closer to outright deflation. Last month, the Fed restarted a massive asset-buying program largely because officials feared tepid growth levels wouldn’t bring down high levels of unemployment and push inflation back up toward levels policy makers considered acceptable. The San Francisco Fed paper divided up the economy by sector to reach its conclusion. “Both deflationary and disinflationary pressures are relatively large by historical standards,” said the paper, which was written by bank economists Bart Hobijn and Colin Gardiner. “The relatively high level of disinflationary pressure is concentrated in the goods and services that make up core inflation,” the economists wrote. “Over a sixth of consumer spending is on goods and services for which prices are declining, while three-fourths is on goods and services for which inflation has slowed,” the paper noted. The paper said as of October, half of consumer spending had been devoted to items whose inflation rate had dropped by 1.2% or more. The economy’s disinflationary trajectory is the biggest since 1981, the paper said. But there was a key difference between that time and now. Then, the downward draft of price increases was tied to the Fed’s extremely aggressive campaign to quash very high levels of inflation through a “severe tightening of monetary policy,” the researchers wrote. The current episode is more problematic because it is tied to developments in the economy itself. What’s more, the disinflationary trend has deepened despite an extremely aggressive stimulus campaign from the Fed, including nearly two years of zero-percent interest rates, joined with massive purchases of mortgage and government bonds. Policy makers are decidedly worried that the current price environment could give way to their nightmare scenario: outright deflation. While some economists believe a little bit of deflation is benign, most in the profession agree with central bankers and think it is a damaging situation. They believe deflation depresses demand and makes debts harder to repay–which is pernicious in an economy that is already only managing weak growth, as many look to reduce high debt loads. Defending the Fed’s decision to buy $600 billion in Treasury bonds by the middle of next year, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told CBS’s 60 Minutes news program Sunday that “because the Fed is acting, I would say the risk [of deflation] is pretty low.” But he added, “If the Fed did not act, then given how much inflation has come down since the beginning of the recession, I think it would be a more serious concern.” [...] New York Times December 6, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/business/05hotel.html?src=busln IS this as bad as it gets? For two years, big investors watched the implosion of the lodging industry as hotel values plummeted more than 50 percent. Now as private equity giants like the Blackstone Group and entrepreneurs like Richard Branson are diving into the sector, others are starting to think it has finally hit bottom and may be bouncing back. Blackstone teamed up with two other private equity players in May to acquire the Extended Stay hotel chain out of bankruptcy court, and in September, Mr. Branson announced plans to create a Virgin Hotel empire. And when big names reach for their checkbooks, other investors usually aren’t far behind. So far in 2010, there have been 77 lodging deals in the United States valued at $8.5 billion, according to the research firm Dealogic, up from 30 deals valued at $1.2 billion in that period in 2009. (This is still far short of the 2007 peak, when there were 141 deals valued at $42.3 billion — including the biggest leveraged buyout of a hotel ever, Blackstone’s troubled $26 billion purchase of Hilton Hotels.) For the most part, private equity firms haven’t even cracked their piggy banks yet. “I have never in my entire career seen so much equity on the sidelines ready to pounce,” says Jim Butler, chairman of the global hospitality group at the law firm Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Mitchell. More than 40 private equity funds are hunting for deals in the hotel sector now, and many are under the gun to buy earlier rather than later, says Bjorn Hanson, dean of the Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management at New York University. About half had cash in hand for lodging investments in 2007 and early 2008 before the sector fell apart and have been sitting on the sidelines, while others have raised money in the last year. All are under pressure to invest, lest they miss the opportunity to jump in before the sector goes into full rebound mode, when “everybody else gets in and prices get bid up,” says Mr. Hanson. Private equity firms and real estate investment trusts have been building huge war chests over the last year as they seek distressed deals, in the hopes of picking up properties at pennies on the dollar, as many did in the early 1990s recession. Mr. Butler recalls that Colony Capital bought the Hyatt Regency Waikoloa in 1993 in Hawaii for about 12 cents on the dollar. Colony paid $56 million for a property that cost $465 million to build and then sold the property in 2002 for $180 million. In the current downturn, many investors have been waiting for similarly troubled targets, which have yet to materialize. “I think opportunistic investors had those visions dancing in their head of assets that you buy at 10 cents on the dollar,” Mr. Butler says. But now many realize they may get distressed assets at only 60 to 80 cents on the dollar, and are afraid they’ll miss the rebound if they don’t jump in soon. “Things will begin drifting up, if not shooting up,” Mr. Butler says. Hotel deals began revving up after the lodging sector showed signs that it had finally turned a corner in the first quarter. Hotels posted year-over-year growth in occupancy in February for the first time since October 2007, and revenue per available room — a closely watched measurement of room-rate and occupancy growth — turned positive in March for the first time since July 2008, according to Smith Travel Research. Read more >>> [...] |
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