Welcome Group Gets $37M Loan

HOSPITALITY: Pasadena project, scheduled for 2025 opening, will have six stories.

A hotel development in Pasadena, right, received nearly $37 million in construction financing.

A hotel development in Pasadena has received nearly $37 million in construction financing.

The project, at 550-566 E. Colorado Blvd., will have 194 rooms when finished and stand six stories tall in the Playhouse District of Pasadena. It is being developed by Welcome Group Inc., based in El Segundo.

“Welcome Group is ecstatic to build a vibrant hotel in the heart of the dynamic Playhouse Village. We are eager to bring a precise attention-to-detail and impeccable service to a discerning market like Pasadena,” Arjun Shokeen, partner at Welcome Group, said in a statement.

The hotel is expected to be completed in 2025, at which point it will become an AC Hotel by Marriott.

Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. represented Welcome Group in its loan, which is for three years with two one-year extension options. The JLL team was led by Senior Managing Director Marc Schillinger and Senior Director Matt Stewart.

“The proposed AC Marriott will be the newest select service property in Pasadena and the only branded hotel in the Playhouse District,” Schillinger said in a statement. “The hotel’s strong brand affiliation, proximity to demand generators, and select-service product offering will allow it to become an ideal choice for leisure and business travelers visiting Pasadena.”

At the end of last year, there were 114 hotels under construction with more than 15,000 rooms in California, according to a study by Atlas Hospitality Group. In planning there were nearly 1,249 hotels with almost 165,000 rooms in the works.

The group found that L.A. led the state in terms of the number of hotels and hotel rooms under construction with 22 and 2,888 respectively.

Last year, seven hotels with 1,131 rooms opened in L.A. County, a 65% room count decrease from 2021.

The Conrad, part of The Grand LA in downtown, was the largest hotel to open both in the county and in the state; it has 305 rooms.