News
PENSION FUND INVESTS IN LEGACY CP HOTEL
January 24, 2012
| Legacy Partners is still seeking a flag for its boutique hotel in Central Perimeter. But the company did get a $50B pension trust to help fund its construction. (It's like getting $50 from grandma for a new bike, with more zeros and no greeting card.) | |
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| We spoke with Legacy's founder David Marvin who updated us on his hotel development (in a JV with Seven Oaks Properties) at the Villa Christina in Central Perimeter. David tells us the 170-room hotel will go up on the parking lot adjacent to the Villa Christina, and will include a parking deck. ?We're optimistic we'll get across the finish line,? David said to our audience of more than 300 CRE pros at Friday's Hotel Investment Summit at the Ritz-Carlton in Buckhead. Legacy also is under way with an Embassy Suites with a Ruth Chris' Steakhouse in Chattanooga. | |
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| PKF Hospitality Research's president Mark Woodworth says RevPAR has taken off this year (8.2% on average for the nation). Of course, Atlanta has come in far short of that average with a 2.8% RevPAR increase, Mark says. But he also noted that this performance came in the face of terrible job growth nationally. He credits it to those who have a job taking vacations. (Wait... that's a job?) | |
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| Hersha Hospitality Trust's CFO Ashish Parikh also got to elaborate on why his fund won't be buying hotels in Atlanta any time soon during Friday's event. ?The thing that really worried me every time I came to Atlanta is it's the never-ending concentric circle,? Ashish says. (It's the Twilight Zone of CRE.) ?We'd come down and there'd be a brand new limited-service hotel.? He says Hersha would come back and buy a hotel in Buckhead at a ?phenomenal basis point.? But ?your basis just has to be that good? to make money on hotels in Atlanta. | |
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| We chatted with Nova Engineering's EVP Kenneth Houseman, KPS Group's Rick Standard and Hodges Ward Elliot's Tom Woodward during the pre-game schmooze. Tom tells us he expected 2012 to be the year of recaps as lenders move distressed loans off their books. | |
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| Our next coffee stop was with Conley Realty's Robert Conley and Marcus & Millichap's Joe Costanzo, who specializes in hospitality sales. In fact, Joe tells us he just sold a portfolio of Motel 6 inns in Florida, and has a Red Roof Inn in Macon and a Holiday Inn in Cartersville listed for sale. But Joe admits getting capital to invest in hotels instead of buying foreclosures is a tough sell in today's environment. ?There's still a lot of risk and a lot of uncertainty.? | |
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| And finally, we leave you with Hunter Hotel Brokers' President Teague Hunter's biggest deal in recent months (using the miracle of this new fandangled invention called video). |
