Buyer of Long Beach Hilton hunts more West Coast sites.

FRESH off its $77 million acquisition of the 393-room Hilton Long Beach Hotel and Executive Meeting Center, HEI Hospitality said it will try to acquire an additional three to five West Coast hotels.

"We are working on a number of things in California," said Stephen Mendell, HEI's executive vice president of acquisitions and development, noting that Norwalk, Conn.-based HEI is nearing completion on some other deals. "We are definitely focused on trying to find more assets to purchase in California and the West Coast."

The deal for the Hilton Long Beach, on West Ocean Boulevard, is the sixth HEI has made since June 2004, when it formed HEI Hospitality Fund, a $275 million private equity fund serving as a vehicle for university endowments.

The partnership of Boston-based real estate firm AEW Capital Management LP and Ensemble Investments LLC in Long Beach. sellers of the property, had embarked on a renovation of the 12-year-old hotel.

The 80 rooms that had yet to be refurbished will be redone by the new ownership.

In addition to the hotel, the property includes 21,600 square feet of meeting space and an executive meeting center. HEI said it planned to put $5 million into the rooms and upgrade meeting spaces, pre-function areas, corridors and elevator lobbies and pool area.

An adjacent 5.6 acre parcel of land residential or office construction will likely be put up for sale.

The hotel, which will be managed by HEI subsidiary Merritt Hospitality and remain under the Hilton flag features a 4,500-square-foot health club, an outdoor pool, a gift shop and clothing boutique and a new Daily Grill.

As the deal closed last week, Hilton Long Beach General Manager Ed Proenza was set to leave for a corporate post at Hilton Hotels Corp., Mendell said. He was to be replaced by Jeff Kulek, former GM at the Marriott Fisherman's Wharf and the Hilton Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro.

Staff reporter Rebecca Flass can be reached at [phone], ext. 230, or at [e-mail].