San Francisco micro-hotel YOTEL acquired for $62M
YOTEL San Francisco, a downtown hotel known for its trendy, tech-savvy design and micro hotel rooms, was acquired last month for $62 million at a foreclosure auction, the San Francisco Business Times reported.
The 203-room hotel on Market Street and Seventh Street was foreclosed on after its owner, Synapse Development Group, defaulted on $64.5 million in loans in March. Its buyer is an affiliate of New York-based investment firm Monarch Alternative Capital, according to the Business Times.
YOTEL San Francisco opened in 2019 as the company’s first and only West Coast location. Other YOTELs — which all come with communal lounge areas, rooftop bars and minimalist rooms described on the company’s website as being inspired by “Japanese influence” — are spread worldwide in places such as Singapore, Amsterdam, Portugal and Turkey. YOTEL also runs several hotels inside airports, where travelers can book small bunkroom-style dwellings to rest in between flights.
What makes YOTEL hotels unique are their micro-rooms, which start at 86 square feet and feature two-level lofted bed setups and exposed toilets. At $221 a night, these digs cost more than many traditional hotel rooms around San Francisco.
Synapse purchased the hotel in 2014 for about $15.7 million, according to the Business Times. In March, the company was sued for $458,000 in alleged unpaid construction costs by one of its building contractors. The next month, it received a notice of default from its mortgage lender, Starwood Property, due to owing $707,000 on its $64.5 million loan, the San Francisco Standard reported.
