The building that’s home to the W Austin Hotel is up for sale.
The 37-story tower, at 200 Lavaca St., has been listed with Macquarie Capital, a company that advises on real estate transactions, according to Austin-based Stratus Properties Inc., developer of the W.
“The Austin market is very attractive and we believe this is an opportune time to sell this extraordinary asset,” Stratus president and CEO Beau Armstrong told the American-Statesman in a statement Thursday.
The effort to sell comes at a time when a number of new hotels are entering the downtown Austin market, including the 1,012-room JW Marriott, which opens next month. A Westin, Hotel ZaZa and Fairmont are also on the way.
In addition to the W hotel and some condos, the high-rise houses the “Austin City Limits” studios, as well as a mix of shops, restaurants and offices, including Stratus’ corporate headquarters.
The W opened in late 2010 and reportedly cost about $300 million to build.
This isn’t the first time the posh, 251-room hotel has been placed on the market. In 2013, Stratus and its partners selected Jones Lang LaSalle’s Hotels and Hospitality Group to test the waters, but a sale never materialized.
Documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday indicate there’s a chance the building might not change hands this time, either.
“There is no assurance that these efforts will result in a definitive transaction or that such transaction would be successfully consummated,” the documents say, in part. “At the time of this filing, no transaction has been agreed to definitively, formally or informally.
“Stratus does not intend to disclose further developments unless and until its board of directors approves a definitive transaction or otherwise has deemed that disclosure is appropriate.”
Aside from the W, Stratus has developed a number of other projects in the Austin area, including several shopping centers.