HotelsMag June 2022 | Page 16

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challenges they faced coming out of the pandemic and its ongoing plans with Georgetown Co .
HOTELS : How is the relationship with Georgetown evolving and what fruit has come out of it to date ? David Duncan : We announced the arrangement of the platform ’ s objective of investing upwards of a billion dollars in the hotel space for the next two to three years or the foreseeable future .
The early returns are going exceedingly well . We ’ ve been very active in seeking investments . We ’ ve acquired the Hutton Hotel in Nashville as the inaugural project that we ’ ve done together . We ’ re working on two or three things currently which we aren ’ t announcing now . But we anticipate that we ’ ll be acquiring additional assets and developing other assets in the next three to six months .
H : What ’ s next for First Hospitality and its investment platform with Georgetown ? DD : We ’ ll continue to aggressively pursue investment opportunities .
First Hospitality is very well positioned today because of some choices we made during the pandemic . On an investment basis , we have some strong momentum on the growth front , 20 % growth in the last 12 months is an indication of that .
I strongly believe that our partnership with Georgetown , emphasis on first investors and relationship with our third parties will have a dramatic impact on growth going forward . In the next two to three years , we ’ ll be very dynamic in terms of growth .
With respect to Georgetown , we will continue to seek investments based on what works for our platform — full-service hotels , lifestyle brands and premium selectservice in virtually all markets across the U . S . and slightly biased towards more dynamic and larger markets .
In terms of first investors , we have a similar product type , a little closer to home and slightly smaller where we will be able to pick our “ spots ” in more tertiary markets ; we ’ re really comfortable with the local demand .
H : Can you talk about your relationship with Georgetown Managing Director Michael Fishbin when it comes to sourcing and analyzing potential deals ? DD : I ’ ve known Michael for decades . Our relationship personally and the platform are working together hand-in-hand . We are identifying opportunities , underwriting and pursuing them . We talk multiple times a week to organize the teams to underwrite deals . It ’ s as if it ’ s one team sourcing and underwriting positions for that platform . We contribute some of the work , they contribute some of the work and it ’ s quite seamless .
H : What is First sourcing on its own and how are you interacting with First Hospitality Chairman Stephen Schwartz ? DD : Like we ’ re working with Georgetown to acquire assets that they are interested in , similarly we ’ re working with Stephen and what we call ‘ first investors ’ to do basically the same thing in slightly different markets and at slightly different
First Hospitality ’ s tri-branded hotels connected to Chicago ’ s McCormick Place convention center include the Hilton Garden Inn Chicago McCormick Place , Hampton Inn by Hilton Chicago McCormick Place , and Home2 Suites by Hilton Chicago McCormick Place .