work with – either niche or opportunistic funds that look for higher yields and will allocate some capital into the hospitality sector , and more and more they are seeing high net worth individuals and large family offices investing in hotels . “ With more traditional high net worth investors , we look to do syndications like we are doing now with a Monterey ( California ) resort that we were able to acquire on our balance sheet and complete a business plan … That was a true distressed deal during the pandemic , where we bought the property a couple days after the lender foreclosed ,” Rob says .
Earlier in the fall of 2021 , Lowe had more than US $ 2 billion in commercial real estate projects in the pipeline or under development . The hotel under construction is The Cooper Hotel in Charleston with 225 keys on the waterfront , with 12,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space , a 7,000-square-foot full-service spa and fitness center , nearly 20,000 square feet of indoor-outdoor event space , and an outdoor infinity-edge resort pool with views of the harbor and the historic downtown skyline . It also recently acquired the 215- room Miramonte Resort & Spa , Indian Wells , California , where renovations are in progress .
When asked about their disposition strategy , the Lowes say there is nothing they are looking to sell today . “ It doesn ’ t feel like the right timing ,” Rob says , “ We ’ re still , in most cases , looking to re-stabilize coming out of the pandemic … To be a seller today , you must have something that really caters to what I had originally talked about , which is an asset that somebody just has to own for reasons other than pure financial .”
THE MANAGEMENT SIDE Lowe also owns its management company , CoralTree Hospitality , which had grown to a portfolio of 22 hotels in September after acquiring six Magnolia hotels from
Denver-based Stout Street Hospitality . CoralTree manages four of Magnolia ’ s six properties in Denver , Houston , St . Louis and Omaha , and licenses the name to the New Orleans and Dallas properties .
The in-house management company has multiple synergies with Lowe , aligning much better with ownership goals . Like Lowe , CoralTree customizes its assets for the local market and has better success with “ non-commoditized ” transient leisure and small to mid-size , corporate group hotels . CoralTree properties are both third-party managed and include those where Lowe has an equity interest .
The Lowes say the downturn has helped CoralTree grow because more owners are looking for alternative strategies that require management changes . Business wasn ’ t great in 2020 , but they say 2022 and 2023 are setting up to be very profitable years . To keep CoralTree as relevant an
The Shay is Lowe ’ s 148-room boutique hotel at the Ivy Station mixed-use development in Culver City , California