Hotel

Investors like Blackstone are drawn to the strong, long-term demand they see for hotel properties.

The clash between the investors is another twist in a years-long sales process for the 111-year-old building at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Central Park South.

Blackstone Group LP agreed to acquire luxury hotel owner LaSalle Hotel Properties in an all-cash transaction that values LaSalle at $33.50 a share, or $4.8 billion including debt.

Shopping malls, according to a Marriott release, “are increasingly becoming ideal hotel destinations, offering consumers amenities steps from their room and providing both companies a powerful combination that optimizes real estate values.”

Gaming and Leisure will pay $1.21 billion for most of Tropicana’s casinos and will lease the properties to Eldorado.

Occupancies are unlikely to rise much higher than their current high level. And property prices are already so high they are unlikely to increase much more relative to incomes.

The complex is rising on land whose previous owners include two convicted felons, one with alleged mob ties.