Guiseppe Cecchi exited the hotel business last week by cashing out of his Renaissance Washington, D.C. Hotel at Ninth and K streets NW.

The president of  IDI Group sold the hotel to San Clemente, Calif.-based Sunstone Hotel Investors for $160 million, or nearly $200,000 per room.

"We built it, and now is a good time for a sale," Cecchi says. "It is a good market for hotels, and it's in a situation that is really unique because right now it's the only hotel in walking distance to the convention center."

The Renaissance, a Marriott brand, is merely blocks from the proposed site of the city's convention center hotel, which would be run by Marriott.

The city has been hammering out details to build a convention center hotel for the past two years. With its 807 rooms, the Renaissance could help accommodate the thousands of people who come for conventions. In August alone, nearly 32,000 are expected to attend four conventions.