60 Investors, One Hotel
Prodigy Network herded 60 crowd-sourced investors with a combined $25M of equity power to join Korman Communities and Shorewood Real Estate in last month's $110M acquisition of 84 William St and the $40M redevelopment into the extended-stay AKA Wall Street hotel, Prodigy CEO Rodrigo Nino tells us. And Prodigy just opened 17 John St, also in FiDi, for Real Estate Participations at $100k each, he says. Before crowdfunding, real estate investors with that kind of cash were limited to buying and renting out management-intensive, unpredictable residential condos at 3% to 4% returns.
Above is AKA Wall Street. ("Yes, but what's its real name? That is the hotel's name!" say brokers Abbott and Costello.) AKA properties also can be found in DC, Philly, LA, and London. Rodrigo says crowdfunding benefits a hotel beyond the initial investment. Investors in such a project will stay there, hold conferences and events there, and recommend it to everyone they know. They'll also likely be loyal to the hotel brand's locations elsewhere. And while many investors are domestic, crowdfunding offers international investors a way to get into prime markets. Rodrigo, who also has a pair of crowdfunded hotels in Bogota, Colombia, is looking in DC and Chicago, too. Check out the full story in Bisnow's national Hotel Sheet here.