LEBANON — The premier hotel in the Upper Valley for business travelers on expense accounts and well-heeled parents visiting their kids at Dartmouth College has a new owner.

The Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Lebanon has been sold to a Denver-based hotel investment group, marking the second Norwich Partners hotel property to change hands in less than a year along the Route 120 corridor.

Mission Hill Hospitality, a portfolio company of KSL Capital Partners, acquired the 194-room hotel on Morgan Drive and adjacent to Centerra Marketplace, according to a Thursday news release from Mission Hill.

Built and operated by hotel developer David Leatherwood and his Norwich Partners hotel group, the Courtyard by Marriott is considered one of the Upper Valley’s top hotels and regularly accommodates visitors to nearby Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and businesses at Centerra Resource Park, as well as to other Upper Valley institutions.

“This acquisition supports our continued growth strategy of investing in premium branded, select service hotels located in diversified markets, particularly those driven by education, medical, corporate and leisure demand,” Mike Wilbert, managing director of Mission Hill Hospitality, said in the news release. “The Lebanon area is experiencing significant growth and development, and this asset is well-positioned to meet expanding needs.”

The Courtyard by Marriott will undergo a “complete renovation of guest rooms and public space to better meet the needs and expectations of today’s travelers,” according to the buyer.

Leatherwood, who opened the Courtyard by Marriott in 2006, said via email that the hotel is “is due for a Marriott-required multimillion-dollar refurbishment. The timing of the sale was clearly in the best financial interests of our investors.”

The sales price was not disclosed; Lebanon city property records show the building and land at the nearly 8-acre site is currently assessed at $15.7 million.

Leatherwood’s Norwich Partners last June sold the former Element Hotel on Route 120 for about $17 million to a Massachusetts private equity company that specializes in residential housing projects. The hotel, which opened in 2014, has been closed since a Christmas Eve explosion in 2019 disabled the building’s electrical system.

Norwich Partners continues to own the Marriott Residence Inn hotel at Centerra.

Contact John Lippman at jlippman@vnews.com.

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