Berkadia Hotels & Hospitality has been exclusively retained in connection with the solicitation of offers to acquire the fee simple interest in the 217-room DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Downtown Wilmington – Legal District (the ‘Hotel’ or ‘Asset’), a premium-branded, concrete-constructed, full-service hotel boasting oversized guestrooms and the area’s premier meeting space and litigation centers, centrally positioned within the heart of the bustling legal and financial districts of downtown Wilmington, Delaware.

The hotel is ideally located in the largest, and most populous city in Delaware, which has seen an excess of $1 billion invested in large-scale development and infrastructure projects predominantly in the resurging downtown vicinity within the past 20 years. Coupled with this injection of capital, economists are bullish for the future, projecting significant growth via the $600 million Port of Wilmington expansion which will transform the facility into one of the largest logistic gateways on the East Coast, a $43 million addition of transportation infrastructure along the Christina River, and $100 million Riverfront mixed-use development which will add 4,291 residential units, 1.9 million square-feet of office space, and 357,000 square-feet of retail space less than a mile from the Hotel by the end of 2023. Amazon also recently delivered two large fulfillment centers in the immediate area, bringing their total investment in Delaware to $3.2 billion since 2010, while Amtrak recently bought 70,000 SF of office space just blocks from the Hotel and is planning to connect Wilmington to Charlotte and Raleigh as part of an $80 billion rail investment, adding significant demand and accessibility to the lodging market. Moreover, the nine-story Hotel is situated within an opportunity zone, which, when coupled with the projected near-term economic growth and new owner’s capital improvement plan, may create inherent long-term value.

The DoubleTree offering represents a rare value-add opportunity for a potential buyer to acquire a premium-branded, concrete-constructed, full-service lodging asset, unencumbered of management with significant top and bottom-line upside, at a notable discount to replacement cost and comparable sales in a rapidly growing downtown market. Moreover, boasting status as the area’s primary event hub with significant pent up wedding and other specialty event demand, paired with returning corporate event demand, the Hotel is well-positioned for the future and is expected to ramp swiftly to stabilization following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.