Dauntless Capital Partners sold a hotel in Old Town Pasadena for $65 million, or about $451,000 a room, The Real Deal has learned.

The buyer is little-known David Lee of Cornerstone Hotel Group, a hospitality management company that has begun to accumulate a portfolio of properties as owner-operator. Cornerstone Hotel Group and Dauntless Capital Partners, a private investment firm led by Craig Ballard and Cramer Williams, confirmed the deal.

The Pasadena property is currently a Residence Inn by Marriott at 21 West Walnut Street, minutes away from Rose Bowl Stadium, and developed by Bob Olsen’s Newport Beach-based R.D. Olson. Dauntless Capital purchased the hotel from R.D. Olsen in 2021 for about $52 million, or about $358,000 per key. 

It’s the second recent sale by Dauntless Capital, which late last year sold an oceanfront Malibu hotel to luxury fashion brand Chrome Hearts for $37.5 million, or about $1.9 million a room. It was one of California’s priciest per-key deals ever and the priciest all year. 

The Pasadena deal isn’t a California all-time high but it is significantly pricier on a per key basis than other recent Los Angeles-area deals — tech entrepreneur Daniel Negari’s $333,000 per room West Hollywood hotel purchase last year, and Khanna Enterprises’ less than $100,000 per key deal for a downtown Long Beach hotel earlier this year. The 2025 median price per room for Los Angeles County hotel sales was $185,000, per an Atlas Hospitality Group analysis.

Dauntless Capital isn’t selling off all its hotels, let alone its Old Town Pasadena portfolio, despite Los Angeles’ ongoing hospitality rut. It still owns The Courtyard by Marriott at 180 North Fair Oaks Avenue, which recently underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation.

Read more

Malibu exception: Boutique hotel deal among priciest in California history

Downtown Long Beach hotel trades at steep discount