San Diego's Consortium Holdings hospitality group (Born & Raised, Polite Provisions) has purchased its second area hotel after buying The Lafayette last year for $25 million.
Consortium Holdings founder Arsalun Tafazoli has purchased Little Italy's 67-room, European-style La Pensione Hotel for nearly $18 million. The sale of the property actually closed in mid-2021. Built in 1991, the 25,767 square-foot boutique hotel had been owned for the past 30 years by La Pensione Partners III, LP. There is no word yet on the exact changes planned for the property, but we anticipate Tafazoli to implement extensive design upgrades over the next year.
La Pensione is the second San Diego hotel Tafazoli has purchased in the past year. In March 2021, he finalized the purchase of North Park's 75-year-old The Lafayette Hotel, Swim Club & Bungalows for $25,815,000. Unlike The Lafayette, there isn't a dining component on the property of La Pensione Hotel, although Mr. Moto Pizza and Caffe Italia are located on the base floor of the building.
A San Diego native and UCSD alumni, Arsalun Tafazoli began his Consortium Holdings hospitality company in 2007 with the opening of Neighborhood in San Diego's East Village. Consortium Holdings now has over a dozen concepts around San Diego, including cocktail-focused Polite Provisions, classy dive bar El Dorado, neighborhood bar & restaurant Craft & Commerce with adjacent tiki-speakeasy False Idol, two locations of its Japanese fusion restaurant Underbelly, modern barbershop Dover Honing Co. (which remains closed since the beginning of the pandemic), seafood-centric Ironside Fish & Oyster, bi-level steakhouse Born & Raised, Westfield UTC bottle shop and speakeasy Raised By Wolves, brunch-centered Morning Glory, Chinese restaurant Fortunate Son, and industry-focused East Village sandwich shop and Negroni bar J & Tony's Discount Cured Meats and Negroni Warehouse with neighboring coffee shop Invigatorium in partnership with San Diego's Modern Times Beer.
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| The bar at members-only The Reading Club |
Consortium Holdings also has several additional concepts in the works, including an incoming concept in the works for North Park called Leila. Tafazoli also purchased the shopping plaza at 3401 Adams Avenue in Normal Heights, which sits across the street from Blind Lady AleHouse and approximately a half mile from CH's Polite Provisions. There is no word yet on what is planned for that space. Arsalun also took over ownership of Bar Pink in North Park in 2020 and plans to convert the space to become a new cocktail bar dubbed Part Time Lover.
La Pensione Hotel is located at 606 West Date Street in San Diego's Little Italy. For more information about Consortium Holdings and its properties, visit consortiumholdings.com.
