The European hotel market continues to reel from the impact of the global economic crisis, but that isn’t stopping Marriott International Inc. from making big expansion plans in the region. The Bethesda, Md.-based hospitality company recently announced that it will increase its presence in Europe, where it currently operates 174 hotels, from 40,000 guestrooms to 80,000 guestrooms by 2015.

With the disposition of Vista on Courthouse, a 220-unit apartment building in Arlington, Va., Sunburst Hospitality has bid adieu to the apartment market.

After four years of litigation and a five-week trial, a jury has awarded Keystone-Texas Property Holding Corp. a more than $80 million judgment against Host Hotels and Resorts L.P., formerly known as Host Marriott, L.P., as well as its subsidiary HMC Hotel Properties II L.P.

Private-equity firm Angelo, Gordon & Co. and Extell Development Co. have agreed to buy the Helmsley Carlton House in Manhattan for about $170 million, according to Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal. The Madison Avenue property is currently owned by the estate of the late Leona Helmsley, and sports some of the most expensive retail space anywhere.

Development firm Related Companies, L.P. has been approved by the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners to develop the 400-room Palm Beach County Convention Center Hilton hotel in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Prime opportunities in the commercial real estate market go well beyond the distressed property pool, as evidenced by LaSalle Hotel Properties’ recent all-cash acquisition of the unencumbered Hotel Sofitel Washington, DC Lafayette Square. The Bethesda, Md.-based REIT snapped up the 237-room luxury hotel for $95 million.

Presently, there is not a single Marriott-branded hotel on tribal land in the U.S., but that is about to change. Marriott International just signed a management agreement with Salt River Devco–an enterprise of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community–for a new Courtyard by Marriott to sit on the Pima-Maricopa land near Scottsdale, Ariz.

Thanks to the City of Miami’s recent approval of the sale of $92 million in bonds, construction of parking facilities for the new $500 million Florida Marlins Stadium moves forward with Boston-based Suffolk Construction tapped by the city to oversee the $75 million project.

In what may be one of many deals spearheaded by opportunistic funds this year, ING Clarion Development Ventures III has acquired the 23-acre waterfront Sea Crest Resort and Conference Center on Cape Cod. The deal was done in partnership with Scout Real Estate.

Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, a division of White Plains, N.Y.-headquartered Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., has revealed plans to increase the global presence of the upscale Sheraton brand.