Hard Rock Hotel San Diego smashes records to mark the largest project release in the city's history

San Diego, CA – On Thursday, May 18, Hard Rock Hotel San Diego, the city’s first branded condo-hotel, sold out its first phase of 300 suites at over $150 million within the day. The total unit sales mark the largest project release in San Diego’s history, and nearly 20% of downtown San Diego’s total sales in 2005.  

“This was a spectacular day and showcases that San Diego is ready to rock,” said Greg Casserly, President of Tarsadia Hotels, the operator. “The condo-hotel has been around for decades, but this is the first of its kind in San Diego. These Owners now own a piece of what will be the hottest destination in town and one of the city’s landmark hotels. As for breaking all the previous downtown real estate sales records …that’s just Hard Rock’s style.”

Hard Rock Hotel San Diego is currently under construction and will open in Summer 2007. When it does, the hotel will include 243 studio suites, 159 one-bedroom suites, and 18 Rock Star suites. It will also include a live music venue, urban spa, retail along Fifth Avenue, and a pool deck that runs nearly the entire city block. Its celebrity partners will provide the food and beverage, including two Rande Gerber bars and one signature Nobu restaurant. To deliver the right vibe throughout the hotel, the operators have tapped the highly successful general manager Robert Todak, who has run some of the hottest hotels in the United States, including The Delano in Miami and Hard Rock Hotel in Chicago. All of this, together with its location at the entrance to the Gaslamp Quarter and the continued resurgence of the downtown core, attracted the record number of interested purchasers and sales.

“I come to San Diego from Mammoth just about every month, and now I have the hottest place in town,” said Mark Myheden, who purchased a one-bedroom suite overlooking the pool. I own a few condo-hotels and every one of them affords me a certain lifestyle I wouldn’t have if I were only purchasing second homes. It’s really a perfect scenario for me: I can own real estate in some of the world’s hottest markets without any of the hassles.” 

The marketing and sales campaign for Hard Rock Hotel San Diego started in January 2006 and was managed by Canadian based, Playground Destinations Properties Inc. Throughout the campaign approximately 8,000 people expressed interest. The developer will be releasing information about the second phase soon.

To celebrate the overwhelming success, Hard Rock threw an “Owner’s only party” Thursday night at Stingaree. The private event was hosted by the Black Eyed Peas who are designing one of the Rock Star Suites. DJs Mark and Samantha Ronson delivered the music for the crowd. Nobu chefs were on hand serving up a few specialties from the Los Angeles and Las Vegas menus, and as one might have imagined, the party was filled with Hard Rock hosts, hostesses and go-go dancers that seemed straight off the runway.

ABOUT TARSADIA HOTELS

Based in Newport Beach, California, privately held Tarsadia Hotels is a national hotel development and management company. Over the past 30 years, Tarsadia has been involved in the operation of more than 100 hotels. For more information on Tarsadia Hotels, visit www.tarsadia.com.

ABOUT HARD ROCK INTERNATIONAL

With 121 high-energy Hard Rock Cafes, 11 Hotel & Casinos and two stand-alone Casinos in more than 41 countries, Hard Rock International is one of the world's most globally-recognized brands. Beginning with an Eric Clapton guitar, Hard Rock owns the world's greatest collection of music memorabilia, which is displayed at its locations around the globe. Hard Rock is also known for its collectible fashion and music-related merchandise, Hard Rock Live performance venues and an award-winning website. Hard Rock International, Inc. is owned by The Rank Group Plc (RNK.L). For more information on Hard Rock, visit www.hardrock.com.

ABOUT PLAYGROUND DESTINATION PROPERTIES, INC.

Playground Destination Properties Inc., an Intrawest company, is the premier provider of sales and marketing services for resort real estate world-wide, including the Hard Rock, San Diego.  The company draws on proprietary methodology called The Playground^TM Way to fulfill its mission of “connecting people with the ultimate places to play”.  With its home office offices in Vancouver, BC, Playground represents unique real estate in six countries on three continents, including world-renowned Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia –North America’s most popular mountain resort; Tremblant in Quebec – voted #1 ski resort in Eastern North America; and Florida’s Sandestin – 2,400 acres including white sand beaches and world-class golf.  To learn more about Playground and its unique breadth of offerings, visit www.playground.com.