Sacramento's Le Rivage hotel could become Westin hotel under new owner [The Sacramento Bee]

Dec. 12--A Diamond Bar-based real estate company that focuses on the development and management of hotel properties is moving to buy Sacramento's Le Rivage Hotel and plans to convert it to a Westin hotel.

Officials of Brighton Management LLC said today that they are finalizing details of the Westin franchise application and hope to open under the new brand "very shortly." It would be Sacramento's first Westin hotel.

The 101-room boutique hotel on Riverside Boulevard along the Sacramento River is being purchased out of receivership in a deal valued at $16 million. Escrow is expected to close in early 2013.

On Feb. 2, the luxury hotel's parent, Captain's Table Hotel LLC, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Sacramento, listing debts of between $10 million and $50 million. The filing staved off a foreclosure sale that was scheduled for Feb. 3 by the hotel's lender, Pasadena-based One West Bank.

Calling itself a "first-class hotel with an Italian and French Riviera" theme, Le Rivage opened in January 2008. That timing on the eve of the recession proved fateful.

The hotel struggled as hard times hit the region's hospitality industry and businesses nationwide cut back on travel. Le Rivage's remote location in the Little Pocket neighborhood on the Sacramento River and its heavy debt load also contributed to its difficulties, hotel industry experts said.

There are 17 Westin hotels in California, including two in San Francisco.

Westin is one of the upscale, luxury hotel brands overseen by Stamford, Conn.-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.

Call The Bee's Mark Glover, (916) 321-1184.

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