Henderson Park and Hines Acquire Five Hotels on Crete

The Santa Marina hotel in Heraklion, Crete.

Henderson Park, a European real estate investment platform, and Hines, an international real estate firm, have acquired a portfolio of five hotels on the Greek island of Crete, an announcement said on Monday.

The portfolio consists of a total of 1,094 rooms of five seafront hotels that comprises 67,000m² of space located in key resort locations across the Greek island.

More specifically, the portfolio includes Hermes and Coral, two adjacent hotels with 218 and 170 rooms respectively, in the coastal city of Agios Nikolaos; Santa Marina and Apollonia, with 208 and 336 rooms respectively, in Crete’s capital city, Heraklion; and a 162-room resort and spa hotel located in Sitia, a coastal town on the west of the island.

The Apollonia hotel in Heraklion, Crete.

“While the leisure industry has no doubt been temporarily impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, we are firm believers that it will bounce back. With this transaction, we have been able to provide a solution to a distressed situation and gain control of a number of high quality, high-potential assets in a globally leading tourist destination at an attractive entry basis,” Nick Weber, Founding Partner of Henderson Park, said.

The purchase, comprising two separate transactions, marks the joint venture’s second partnership in the Greek hotel market, following the acquisition in 2017 of the former Ledra hotel, which was transformed by Hines and Henderson Park into the five-star Grand Hyatt hotel.

“While the headwinds from the global pandemic will clearly have a material impact on the leisure and hospitality sectors, we have confidence in the mid to long term prospects and as such are committed to pursuing further opportunities in this market,” Paul Gomopoulos, Senior Managing Director and country head for Greece at Hines said.