Jan. 17–The owners of The Grove Hotel, CenturyLink Arena and the Idaho Steelheads hockey team plan to buy two Downtown Boise hotels: Hotel 43 and the Courtyard Boise Downtown.

Block 22 LLC, a holding company of local investors who control the 250-room Grove Hotel, the arena and the Steelheads, is buying:

— The 162-room Courtyard Boise Downtown by Marriott at Broadway Avenue and Front Street from Cameron S-16 Broadway.

— The 112-room Hotel 43 from Cameron S-16 Hospitality.

The Cameron S-16 businesses are joint ventures between Cameron Investments, a Boise commercial real estate investment, development and private-equity company; and the S-16 Limited Partnership representing the grandchildren of the late Idaho billionaire J.R. Simplot.

Purchase prices were not disclosed. The Courtyard's assessed value was $11.9 million and Hotel 43's was $8.6 million in 2016, according to the Ada County Assessor's Office.

The purchases come as competition intensifies among Downtown Boise hotels. The 110-room Inn at 500 Capitol opens this month on South Capitol Boulevard. A 180-room Residence Inn by Marriott, being built across the street from the Inn at 500, is scheduled to open this spring. Hyatt Place, a 152-room hotel at 199 S. 10th St., is scheduled to open in April.

"We are pleased to be selling these two tremendous properties to Block 22, a group that has a history of investing in Boise," said Ben Pursley, spokesman for Cameron S-16, in a news release.

John Cunningham, president of Block 22, said the properties fit into his company's hospitality portfolio.

"Both properties perform well financially, have been renovated within the last few years and serve patrons who desire access to Downtown Boise," Cunningham said in the news release. "Virtually nothing is in need of change."

That means the hotel names and brand affiliations will be unaffected, and the top managers — Andrea Cox at the Courtyard and Lisa Benjamin at Hotel 43 — will be retained. The separately owned Chandler's Steakhouse will continue inside Hotel 43.

Pat Rice, executive director of the Greater Boise Auditorium District, said Block 22 now controls 500+ rooms that can be accessed with one phone call — "definitely a plus for any meeting planner that would consider Boise."

David Staats: 208-377-6417, @DavidStaats