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Chinese firm buys Los Angeles Airport Marriott for $160 million

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A Chinese real estate developer has purchased the vast Los Angeles Airport Marriott for $160 million and vowed to make substantial improvements.

It was the largest hotel sale of the year in Los Angeles County, brokers said, and a sign that the appetite for Southern California properties remains strong among Chinese investors.

Sichuan Xinglida Group Enterprises Co., which has built numerous mixed-use projects in mainland China, bought the hotel through its U.S. subsidiary, XLD Group. The seller was DiamondRock Hospitality Co., a Maryland real estate investment trust that owned it for about a decade, according to Karin Chao of Asia Pacific Capital Co., an adviser to the buyer.

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The Airport Marriott is one of the largest hotels in Los Angeles County, with 1,004 rooms in 18 stories. It was completed in 1972 at 5855 W. Century Blvd.

About $35-million worth of improvements are coming to the hotel, said Eddy Chao of Asia Pacific. Meeting rooms on the top floor will be eliminated to create a new “executive floor,” where guests in Marriott’s rewards program can lounge and eat breakfast.

The smaller existing executive floor will be converted to suite-style hotel rooms, he said. The hotel market around the airport is booming, Eddy Chao added, with more than 90% of the Marriott’s rooms occupied on an average night.

International travelers on business and leisure trips are keeping hotels around the airport well-booked.

“The gateway status of the Los Angeles hotel market and its excellent supply and demand fundamentals continue to attract a broad base of motivated domestic and international investors,” said broker John Strauss of JLL, who represented the seller.

XLD Group also bought the 487-room Torrance Marriott South Bay hotel from DiamondRock late last year.

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roger.vincent@latimes.com

Twitter: @rogervincent

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