Red Lion Hotels purchases 10 properties it was leasing

Spokane-based Red Lion Hotels Corp. has purchased 10 hotels the company has been leasing from iStar Financial Inc., a New York real estate investment trust company.

The purchase price was $37 million. It ends a long-term lease Red Lion management entered into for the properties dating to 1995, according to a news release Thursday.

Washington hotels are in Kelso and Wenatchee. There is also an Idaho hotel in Boise, a Montana hotel in Missoula, a California hotel in Sacramento and Oregon hotels in Bend, Coos Bay, Eugene, Medford and Pendleton.

The deal will save about $4 million per year in lease obligations, said Red Lion CEO Jon Eliassen. He said the plan is to review the 10 properties to decide which are key to future growth and which should be sold.

The purchase was funded from the 2011 sale of the Red Lion Hotel in Seattle.