Sheraton Bloomington changes hands

The Sheraton Bloomington Hotel, one of the largest hotels in the state, has sold for $20 million.

The seller, LaSalle Hotel Properties, based in Bethesda, Md., disclosed the deal Friday but did not identify the buyer. A person close to the purchase said the buyer was a West Coast private investment group.

Jerry Daly, a spokesman for Richfield Hospitality, the hotel's new manager, said the buyers are planning a significant renovation costing at least $10 million.

LaSalle bought the 564-room convention hotel in 1995 for $31.8 million, property records show. In 2004, it rebranded the hotel from a Radisson to the Sheraton Bloomington, and spent $10.4 million renovating it. The hotel is at 7800 Normandale Blvd., near Hwy. 100.

Greg Timm of Timm & Associates, a hotel broker in Eden Prairie, said the deal pencils out to about $35,000 a room, a relatively low price. Last year, the Minneapolis Hilton, a convention hotel in downtown Minneapolis, sold for a price that worked out to about $185,000 a room.

Ken Fuller, LaSalle Hotel Properties' treasurer, said that Bloomington is not a strategic market for the company.

"The property was subject to a substantial property improvement plan from Sheraton," Fuller said. "We would have had to invest a significant amount of capital dollars had we held it."