the lion ’ s share of the equity . Sondland adds that there are other Provenance hotel assets that are not going into this venture that will be “ dealt with separately .”
DEAL ORIGINS The deal started to come together about a year ago during a lunch in Miami where the new partners drew up an agreement on a napkin . Sondland and his partners were looking for a strategic partnership that could both enhance their management company with scale , but at the same time align on the real estate portfolio with a partner that was also aligned on management . With Gencom being in the unique position where it is a shareholder in Benchmark , and now Pyramid , and also being a real estate shop , the two were able to create this vehicle .
“ The key to this is the alignment on both sides of the deal , which is not easy , where you ’ re managing essentially your own property ,” Sondland says . “ It ’ s hard to find a partner where they ’ re invested in both pockets of the pair of pants – and that ’ s what we have here . The deal took a while to structure to make sure that the alignment portion – heads you win , tails you win – worked out so that all the stakeholders feel comfortable .”
Among the assets joining GenPro is Provenance ’ s Sentinel in the West End of Portland , Oregon
THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT THIS VENTURE IS BOTH KARIM AND I COMPRISE THE INVESTMENT COMMITTEE . AND WE CAN BE VERY FLEXIBLE IN HOW WE STRUCTURE THESE DEALS . quarter of 2022 .
Sondland has retained the Provenance name after selling management to the Benchmark Pyramid and says an announcement is forthcoming about the exploitation of that name going forward .
GenPro ’ s initial portfolio of properties includes the downtown Seattle , Washington — Hotel Max ; the boutique Old No . 77 Hotel & Chandlery , situated just blocks from New Orleans , Louisiana ’ s French Quarter ; downtown Nashville , Tennessee ’ s newly renovated Hotel Preston ; the museum-worthy collection of glass art at Hotel Murano in the South Sound ; and four downtown Portland , Oregon hotels : the Hollywood golden age-style Hotel Deluxe in the Goose Hollow neighborhood , Sentinel in the West End , Hotel Lucia , which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places , and the art-filled rooms of Dossier .
These eight assets were easy to bring into the GenPro fold because they ’ re all contained in one entity and owned by the same investment group in which Provenance sponsors and partners own
– GORDON SONDLAND