ATLANTA, GA – October 6, 2021 – Driftwood Capital, a vertically integrated commercial real estate investment, development and lending platform specializing in hospitality, announces that it has acquired The Wylie Hotel, a brand new, 111-key boutique hotel in Atlanta’s historic Old Fourth Ward neighborhood. The property, which opened in May 2021, is the only independent boutique hotel in Midtown’s booming office and lodging market. Driftwood will maintain the current operator following acquisition.
“This was an exceptionally rare opportunity to purchase an institutional-quality, unencumbered independent hotel asset, in a submarket of Atlanta with high barriers to entry and tremendous demand drivers, at an attractive basis,” said Johannah Rodriguez, Managing Director of Acquisitions with Driftwood Capital. “Located in a beautifully restored, architecturally significant building in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward, The Wylie Hotel is ideally positioned to be the premier lifestyle hotel in this area, drawing both leisure and corporate guests.”
Added Carlos Rodriguez Sr., CEO of Driftwood Capital,
“The Wylie Hotel boasts an exceptional location directly across from the Ponce City Market, arguably one of the city’s most popular destinations, and within close to proximity to an array of Fortune 100, multinational companies that call Atlanta home. We’re delighted to bring this property into Driftwood’s growing portfolio and present this unique offering to our growing domestic and international investor base.”
Driftwood Capital, which provides high-net-worth investors direct access to institutional-quality hotel assets through its unique syndication model, will present this offering to LP investors for syndication beginning in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Located at 551 Ponce De Leon Avenue, The Wylie Hotel is the result of the revitalization and expansion of 551 Ponce, a 1920s-era hotel. The renovation of the original historic structure created a glass-enclosed sunroom on the first floor, home to the beloved Mrs. P’s Kitchen & Bar, along with a second-floor outdoor terrace and 11 restored guestrooms. A five-level addition to the rear of the historic building added another 100 guestrooms, along with administrative offices and a fitness center. Guestrooms on the fifth floor have private terraces with views of Ponce City Market, located a half a block away.
The Wylie Hotel is located in the heart of Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward – the birthplace of Martin Luther King, Jr., and home of the iconic Ebenezer Baptist Church and the Sweet Auburn historic district. The property’s location on Ponce De Leon Avenue, a major east-west thoroughfare in Midtown, gives it excellent connectivity to many of Atlanta’s other major submarkets, such as Downtown and Buckhead, both less than 10 minutes away. Over the last decade, Midtown has rapidly urbanized, transforming into a highly desired live-work-play community with growing volumes of Class A office space, upscale hospitality, plentiful retail, and diverse leisure and entertainment. The Midtown submarket is the fifth-largest office submarket in Atlanta with 27.7 million square feet of office space, and it offers the highest density of art and cultural institutions in the Southeast, attracting more than 6 million visitors annually. The property is also just 1.5 miles from Georgia Tech, one of the nation’s most prestigious universities with over 27,000 students. The property sits one-mile from the North Avenue MARTA station, which provides access to all points of the city, and 12 miles from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
With this acquisition, Driftwood Capital’s portfolio grows to 24 full-service hotels and seven new ground-up hotel developments. Since 2015, the principals of Driftwood Capital have transacted on more than $1.5 billion in hospitality assets backed by capital from an investor network of family offices, high-net-worth individuals, and others. Among these assets are the Marriott Mission Valley San Diego, the Sheraton Park City, and the Margaritaville Lake of the Ozarks, as well as the newly opened Canopy by Hilton West Palm Beach & Canopy by Hilton Tempe.
