Partnership acquires Warner Center Marriott.

Some speculate sale price was about $28 million

A partnership including big Pittsburgh-based hotel operator Interstate Hotels Corp. and New York real estate investment outfit Blackstone Real Estate Advisors L.P. has purchased controlling interest in the 473-room Warner Center Marriott Hotel from an affiliate of CIGNA Corp. through a six-hotel sale package.

No sale price was disclosed for the complex transaction, through which the Interstone Partners L.P. partnership purchased a 75-percent interest in the six hotels, with CIGNA affiliate Cigna Investments Inc. retaining a 25-percent stake.

But local hospitality industry observers estimated the relatively strong performing 10-year-old facility at 21850 Oxnard St. in Woodland Hills would fetch somewhere around $60,000 per room - which translates to about $28 million - if sold outright and individually.

Title records indicate that the Warner Center Marriott's new owner - a Delaware limited partnership known as Interstone/CGL Partners L.P. - has just placed a new $20 million mortgage on the property from big French banking firm Credit Lyonnais' New York branch.

Records also show a new $100 million Credit Lyonnais loan is tied to the entire six-property portfolio - which also includes the 390-room Tysons Corner Marriott in Tysons Corner, Va.; the 388-room Ft. Lauderdale Airport Hilton in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; the 229-room Doubletree Guest Quarters in Valley Forge, Pa.; the 209-room Schaumburg Embassy Suites in Schaumburg, Ill.: and the 303-room Marriott Andover in Andover, Mass.

A limited partnership affiliated with the former Marriott Corp. originally developed the Warner Center hotel utilizing a $47 million construction loan from CIGNA subsidiary Connecticut General Life Insurance Co.

About two years ago, CIGNA/Connecticut General took back the property through foreclosure, bought the land underlying the hotel and installed Interstate as the hotel operator.

Blackstone Real Estate Partners is an affiliate of New York's Blackstone Group, an investment banking firm founded by former Lehman Bros. Chairman and U.S. Commerce Secretary Peter G. Peterson and former Lehman mergers and acquisitions chief Stephen A. Schwarzman.

Interstate Hotels is the world's largest independent hotel management company, with more than 140 properties under management - including L.A. County's biggest hotel, downtown L.A.'s 1,368-room Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites.

Before the just-closed CIGNA deal, the Blackstone/Interstate partnership had already purchased eight properties across the United States since it was formed in 1994.