Sonnenblick Goldman Arranges Sale of Conrad Chicago

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. October 14, 2008

NEW YORK, NY, November 9, 2006. Sonnenblick Goldman, serving as the exclusive advisor to a joint venture between Westbrook Partners, Walton Street Capital and Lodging Capital Partners, has arranged the $117.5 million sale of the fee-simple interest in the Conrad Chicago Hotel to DiamondRock Hospitality. The hotel is located on prestigious North Michigan Avenue in the heart of Chicago's Magnificent Mile.

The 17-story hotel, renowned for its luxurious furnishings, outstanding location and its high-quality service, opened in 2001 under the Le Meridien flag. Current ownership acquired the hotel in 2005 and implemented a $5 million capital improvement plan that upgraded the asset to five-diamond quality. Upon completion of this investment, ownership retained Conrad Hotels as manger, which is one of Hilton Hotel's premier luxury brands.

"The combination of the asset quality, ideal location, strong Chicago market fundamentals and the affiliation with the internationally-recognized Conrad brand rendered this a unique opportunity for the buyer to acquire one of Chicago's best hotels," said Mark J. Gordon, managing director and principal of Sonnenblick Goldman and head of the firm's International Lodging & Leisure Group. "The combination of these qualities resulted in significant interest from the international hotel community."

The hotel contains 311 guestrooms - including 33 oversized suites - featuring Pratesi bed linens, L'Occitane bath products, iPod docking stations, Bose 3-2-1 Hi-Fi entertainment systems, 42-inch Plasma screen televisions and wireless internet. The property also features three food and beverage venues, including The Terrace at Conrad, and more than 12,000 square feet of meeting space.

"The property's location within Chicago's central business district and proximity to 'The Loop,' River North and North Michigan Avenue districts, successfully positions the hotel among competing upper-scale and luxury hotels," commented Svetlin Ganchev, vice president of Sonnenblick Goldman. Other recent Chicago-area hospitality transactions arranged by Sonnenblick Goldman include the acquisition and renovation loan for the Palmer House Hotel & Shops, the acquisition capitalization for the Conrad Hotel, and acquisition financings for both the legendary Drake Hotel on North Michigan Avenue and the Westin O'Hare.

On a national basis, Sonnenblick Goldman's International Lodging & Leisure Group has completed more than $4 billion in recent hospitality transactions, including the sales of 485 Fifth Avenue in New York, which involved the conversion of an office building to a hotel; the sale of the Pan Pacific Hotel in San Francisco, the sales of the Beekman Tower and Eastgate hotels in New York; as well as numerous recent hotel financings including the Hay-Adams Hotel and the Hotel Washington, in Washington DC, the Wyland Waikiki in Honolulu, the Westin Dallas, the Dream Hotel in New York, and the Shoreham Hotel in New York.

Sonnenblick Goldman is the industry's leading independent real estate investment banking firm. Founded in 1893 to serve the financing needs of the real estate industry, Sonnenblick Goldman provides a full range of financial services, including debt and equity placements, joint ventures, investment sales and advisory services. Headquartered in New York, Sonnenblick Goldman has a strong presence in Hong Kong, San Francisco, Shanghai, Sydney and Tokyo. Further information can be found at Sonnenblick Goldman's website at www.sonngold.com.

Westbrook Partners, founded in 1994, is a privately owned real estate investment management company with offices in New York, San Francisco, London, Paris and Tokyo. Westbrook has sponsored a series of seven real estate private equity funds that have invested over $5 billion of equity in over $24 billion of real estate transactions on behalf of public and corporate pension funds, endowments and foundations. These transactions consist of over 220 separate investments, involving approximately 1,300 separate assets of all property types.

Walton Street Capital, LLC, is a private real estate investment company which sponsors a series of private-equity real estate investment funds. Walton Street has invested over $3.0 billion of total equity from public and corporate pension funds, foreign institutions, insurance companies and banks, endowments and foundations, trusts, and high net worth individuals. The funds have an opportunistic and value-added investment focus, with the objective of producing returns to investors of at least 20%. Walton Street has 12 principals, which direct the investment and management of the funds. Collectively, the principals have nearly 200 years of real estate experience and have participated in more than $25 billion in real estate transactions.

Lodging Capital Partners (LCP) was formed by David Sims, Bradley Falk and Steve Kisielica to become a premier owner of full-service hotels, primarily in the United States and in selected international markets. Members of LCP have combined 35 years of experience in hotel valuation, acquisitions, financing, asset management and dispositions. The team has purchased over $3.5 billion of properties, implemented over $5 billion of financings, raised over $1.5 billion of public and private equity and sold $1 billion worth of asset, all of which related to full-service hotels and resorts.