The Sheraton Raleigh, a 17-story, 353-room hotel parked right next to the Raleigh Convention Center, has a new owner and a new identity on the way. White Lodging has acquired the property and says it will pour significant money into an overhaul before flipping the flag to Westin. County records show the sale closed this week for about $27.75 million, a sharp drop from what the building fetched less than a decade ago. The buyer says the refresh will focus on guest rooms, meeting space and dining as part of a broader downtown push for more high-end hotel options within easy walking distance of the convention center.
White Lodging Plans Renovation And Westin Conversion
In a press release shared by White Lodging, the company said it will both manage the hotel and oversee a top-to-bottom transformation of guestrooms, public spaces and food-and-beverage concepts. The firm says design and construction plans are in the works now and that it expects renovations to start in early 2027, with the Westin branding to follow once that work is complete. “This investment strongly supports White Lodging’s growth strategy,” the company said in its statement, signaling it sees Raleigh as part of a larger play in premium urban hotels.
Sale Price And Ownership History
The roughly $27.75 million sale price was reported this week by The News & Observer, which cited county deed records. That figure is about 42 percent below the $47.85 million the Buccini/Pollin Group paid for the same building back in 2015, according to Hotel-Online. Public records show the Sheraton was built in 1982 and has seen periodic updates over the years. Today, Jimmy V’s Osteria occupies the ground-floor restaurant space and remains one of the more visible street-level tenants on that block.
What This Means For Downtown And The Convention Center
City boosters have been arguing for years that downtown Raleigh needs more hotel rooms clustered around the convention center if it wants to lure bigger events. From 2018 to 2020, about 45 percent of the Raleigh Convention Center’s lost business was tied to a lack of nearby lodging, ABC11 reported. The future Westin is expected to slot into that gap, alongside existing downtown properties such as the 401-room Raleigh Marriott City Center and a much larger Omni project planned for Fayetteville Street. Industry listings show the Sheraton’s 353 rooms and meeting space are a key part of that effort to bulk up the convention hotel lineup within a few blocks of the center…