ATLANTA, GA – January 31, 2021 – Peachtree Hotel Group (“Peachtree”), a real estate private equity investment manager, announced that its total investment activity for 2021, inclusive of acquisitions, developments, lending and hotel investments, amounted to a record of $2.0 billion in total capitalization through 140 transactions.
“We are extremely pleased to have completed an extraordinary year of investment activity,” said Greg Friedman, Peachtree’s CEO. “Our strategy of investing up and down the capital stack and opportunistically pivoting as markets shift allows us to capitalize on investments during any business cycle. 2021 exemplified our ability, and we expect that 2022 should be another strong year on the investment side.”
As of year-end 2021, Peachtree acquired nine hotels for approximately $300 million and brought the company’s portfolio of owned and managed hotels to 76, totaling 9,351 rooms nationwide. Notable hotel acquisitions completed included:
- 233-room AC Hotel by Marriott in Aventura, Florida
- 207-room Aloft Miami Aventura in Aventura, Florida
- 192-room Embassy Suites by Hilton in Kennesaw, Georgia
- 143-room Aloft Nashville Franklin in Franklin, Tennessee
- 140-room Cambria Hotel in Rockville, Maryland
- 120-room SpringHill Suites by Marriott in Annapolis, Maryland
- 106-room Hilton Garden Inn in Granbury, Texas
- 81-room Hampton Inn in Paso Robles, California
- 60-room La Bellasera Hotel & Suites in Paso Robles, California
Stonehill, a commercial real estate direct lender and an affiliate of Peachtree, originated loans and acquired senior notes, primarily backed by lodging assets, totaling approximately $1.6 billion in market capitalization. The company deployed $770 million across 23 originated loans, which included construction, bridge and preferred equity investments. Stonehill, through its affiliate Stonehill PACE, completed $150 million in commercial property assessed clean energy (“CPACE”) financings through 17 transactions, making it one of the leading balance sheet CPACE lenders in the U.S.
Stonehill also purchased 103 senior notes with a total capitalization of approximately $700 million.
“While note purchase investments were significant during the last two years, we expect to deploy more of our capital in opportunistic acquisitions, ground-up developments and lending within the select- and limited-service hotel chains amid the current hospitality recovery cycle,” said Brian Waldman, Peachtree’s executive vice president, investments.
According to Jones Lang LaSalle’s U.S. Select-Service Hotel Trends & Outlook, select-service hotels represent a defensive property sector with higher and more consistent yields than other hotels. The sector has also shown more long-term stability with limited average price per key volatility over the past 20 years.
Also, in 2021, the company started construction on five premium-branded hotels totaling approximately 700 rooms in California, Florida and Kentucky. Further, Peachtree has a pipeline of approximately 20 additional hotel developments in various stages of planning or construction.
“With the global pandemic expected to end this year and the sustained economic recovery boosting hotel fundamentals, we believe the lodging sector remains among the best real estate classes for investing,” Waldman said.
