The commercial real estate market is experiencing its most significant transformation since the Great Financial Crisis, and for seasoned investors, the question isn't whether opportunities exist, it's whether you have the experience and infrastructure to capitalize on them. In the latest Peachtree Point of View episode, Managing Principal & CEO Greg Friedman, Managing Principal & CFO Jatin Desai, and President and Principal CRE, Daniel Siegel reveal how nearly two decades of strategic evolution has positioned Peachtree Group to thrive in today's dislocated market.
When Peachtree Group launched in 2007 with just five team members, the timing couldn't have been more challenging or more instructive. The Great Financial Crisis (GFC) became the firm's first masterclass in identifying mispriced risk and executing complex transactions when others retreated. This foundational experience, from 2009 to 2011, of "dusting off the playbook" by providing rescue capital through hook notes and restructuring distressed assets established the operational framework that drives today's strategy.
"We've always been very much focused on mispriced risk," explains Friedman. "There's always going to be challenges and opportunities, but we're always looking for where is there that mispriced risk."
The decade following the GFC saw Peachtree systematically build the infrastructure that now provides competitive advantages. The firm vertically integrated operations, bringing property management, loan servicing, construction management and their broker-dealer in-house by 2010. This wasn't just operational efficiency, it was strategic positioning for future market dislocations.
Most significantly, Peachtree began its heavy focus on private credit in 2014, recognizing the asset class as "very, very much mispriced" with substantial opportunities. While competitors are now rushing into private credit for the first time, Peachtree has 15 years of direct lending experience across 630+ credit transactions with a remarkable track record: only 2% of deals required asset takeback, with just a 0.17% loss rate on $2.3 billion in deployed credit capital.
Today's market validates every strategic decision made over the past 18 years. With over $1 trillion in commercial real estate loans maturing into a dramatically different interest rate environment, regional banks are facing the exact pressures Peachtree learned to navigate during the GFC.
The firm's growth trajectory tells the story: from five employees in 2007 to 100 in 2019, and now 300+ team members managing $4 billion in equity across $8 billion in total assets. But scale alone doesn't explain their current advantage; it's the operational sophistication built through multiple market cycles.
The current environment reveals why infrastructure matters more than capital. As Desai notes, "There's a lot of private credit outthere, but most of them have come to us because they can't originate. They don't have the infrastructure, they don't have the originators, underwriters, servicing in-house."
Eighteen years of market presence have created another competitive moat: deep bank relationships across 40+ financial institution counterparties. These relationships now provide access to off-market transactions as banks seek creative solutions to manage regulatory pressure around commercial real estate exposure.
"Banks are being very constructive, thoughtful and strategic about how they're trading paper," explains Siegel. "Most of. these have been off-market transactions, and we're sourcing them mostly internally through our existing bank relationships."
Strategic Investment Implications:
• Experience-driven opportunity recognition: Peachtree's GFC playbook from 2009-2011 is directly applicable to today's market, providing tested frameworks for special situations and rescue capital deployment
• Infrastructure as competitive advantage: 15 years ofprivate credit experience and vertically integrated operations enable executionwhere new market entrants fail to close deals they've underwritten
• Relationship-sourced deal flow: Deep banking relationships across 40+ institutions provide exclusive access to off-market transactions,creating sustainable competitive advantages
• Proven downside protection: Track record of 98% asset retention rate and 0.17% loss ratio on $2.3 billion in credit investments demonstrates risk management capabilities refined through multiple cycles
• Market timing validation: Current dislocation represents the type of "mispriced risk" opportunity that has driven Peachtree's strategy since inception, with 3+ year runway for deployment
The discussion reveals why this moment represents more than just another market opportunity. It's the convergence of two decades of strategic preparation with optimal market conditions.
For sophisticated investors evaluating how market history informs current opportunity, this episode provides rare insight into how institutional platforms leverage experience, relationships and infrastructure to generate alpha in dislocated markets.
Listen to the full Peachtree Point of View episode to hear detailed examples of how decades of market experience translate into current deal execution and investment strategy. Follow Peachtree Point of View on your preferred podcast platform for ongoing insights into institutional-quality real estate investment approaches.
The hotel industry has had a remarkable recovery in the post-COVID era, marked by strong fundamentals, limited supply and increased capital inflows, making it an attractive investment option.
Peachtree Group CEO Greg Friedman sat down with Bryan Younge, executive vice president at Newmark to discuss this remarkable recover and where the market is today. Bryan heads the hospitality practice group at Newmark and is a leading commercial real estate advisor. Below is a recap of his expert analysis and insights.
Listen to Peachtree's discussion with Bryan Younge, EVP Newmark here.
The industry witnessed an unprecedented come back after the pandemic.
Limited New Hotel Supply: Limited new hotel supply coinciding with high travel demand creates a favorable scenario for the existing hotel inventory to capitalize on the surging interest.
Investment Attractiveness: The hotel sector's resilience has increased its appeal as an investment vehicle, offering substantial returns. This is reflected in the significant capital and dry powder ready for investment in this sector.
Macro Challenges: Despite its success, the industry faces challenges like staffing shortages, wage growth and inflation.
Hotel Performance – Segment: Closely examined the performance across various segments of the hotel industry, including commercial, group, leisure, and extended stay, as well as different distribution channels. These channels are crucial for predicting occupancy trends and Average Daily Rate (ADR), especially in the current volatile inflationary environment.
Predictive Analysis: Discussed methods for predicting future pricing trends in the hotel industry, including analyzing room rates and booking adjustments, the personal savings rate and its impact on the travel sector, and the performance of different hotel market segments and their recovery post-pandemic.
Transaction Market: An equilibrium is emerging in the transaction market, with buyers and sellers reaching common ground and avoiding distressed pricing. This indicates a healthy market with growth potential and abundant opportunities.
Brian Waldman, CIO at Peachtree Group was one of the featured experts interviewed by Hotel Investment Today for this article. In conjunction with rate cuts, Waldman said he expects to see a surge in demand for both acquisition and lending opportunities. “The anticipated uptick in activity will likely be a major boon for Peachtree Group, presenting opportunities to assist groups in recapitalizing their assets as well as growing our owned hotel portfolio,” he said.
Greg Friedman and Mitul Patel form Peachtree Hotel Group as a family office to invest in premium-branded select service hotels.
Peachtree launched complementary divisions to develop and operate hotels, Peachtree Hospitality Development and Peachtree Hospitality Management, respectively. Over the next decade, the company continues to rapidly grow its portfolio of limited- and select-service hotels, becoming one of the nation's fastest-growing hotel acquisition, management, development and ownership groups in premium-branded hotels under the Marriott, Starwood, Hilton, Hyatt, and InterContinental Hotel group flags.
Jatin Desai joins Peachtree as managing principal chief investment officer and chief financial officer. The company expands investment offerings beyond equity investing into credit investments, acquiring debt positions secured by hotel and other real estate assets. As the Great Financial Crisis took hold, Peachtree implemented a distressed investment strategy and invested in 47 distressed hotels.
Peachtree launched Stonehill, a direct commercial real estate lending division, to focus on debt originations and note acquisitions. Stonehill focuses on transitional assets and sectors of the credit market that traditionally have had more limited access to financing, eventually becoming a top 10 U.S. commercial real estate hotel lender as ranked by the Mortgage Bankers Association ("MBA").
Peachtree Group reorganized from a family office to a vertically integrated private equity firm. The company launched its first investment vehicle focused on acquiring and originating debt investments in select-service hotels.
Peachtree launched its first discretionary equity investment vehicle to acquire and develop premium-branded hotels and other commercial real estate assets.
Peachtree launches Revive Land Group, a land development division focused on designing, entitling and developing residential and mixed-use projects. Revive has since transacted on over $50MM of real estate, consisting of over 1,100 residential lots.
Stonehill PACE was established as a direct lender focusing on property assessed clean energy for diverse commercial real estate asset classes. Over time, it evolved into one of the prominent CPACE providers in the U.S., securing over $600 million in CPACE financing. Also, Peachtree initiated a mortgage Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) specializing in financing income-generating real estate. This REIT's scope involved acquiring or originating mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. The company further expanded its endeavours by investing into hotel development within Qualified Opportunity Zones. This strategic move aimed to leverage the tax deferral benefits offered by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
Peachtree PC Investors (PPCI), a FINRA-registered broker-dealer, becomes Peachtree's exclusive managing broker-dealer for the firms' investment offerings.
The onset of the pandemic triggered an unexpected "Black Swan" event, plunging the U.S. into a recession and significantly impacting various sectors, notably the commercial real estate industry, particularly in hospitality. In response, Peachtree initiated its most extensive investment initiative to date, focusing on real estate and related assets. This strategic move aimed to capitalize on the emerging opportunities resulting from market disruptions, operational inefficiencies, under-capitalizations, and expected cyclical rebounds. Throughout this period, the firm executed transactions totaling $3 billion in asset value, encompassing debt and equity investments. Notably, Peachtree acquired over 180 first mortgage notes as part of its investment activities, positioning itself within a diverse array of real estate assets.
Continued disruptions caused by the pandemic have led to financial strain among ownership groups and developers due to reduced access to capital. In response, the company introduces its twelfth sponsored investment vehicle, aiming to engage in opportunistic debt and equity investments. This strategic move capitalized on emerging investment opportunities within the hospitality industry and other real estate sectors that have been impacted, too.
Gala Media Capital was launched to finance the production of films and television
Daniel Siegel joins Stonehill as Principal CRE, bringing a team of experienced originators outside the hospitality industry to expand Peachtree's commercial lending business. In addition, Peachtree expands its array of high-quality, diversified investment strategies and vehicles by launching a 1031 Exchange DST program to enhance its tax deferral strategies in the hospitality sector. Due to Peachtree’s expansion into non-hospitality investments across the ecosystem, the company drops “Hotel” from the name and becomes Peachtree Group, continuing to grow beyond hospitality.
$9B+ Asset Value and $2.5B+ Capital Under Management
As the portfolio of commercial real estate investments expanded, Peachtree consolidated all affiliated companies, notably Stonehill, Stonehill PACE, and Peachtree Hospitality Management, under the Peachtree Group umbrella. The firm adds to its vertically integrated management platform with the addition of an EB-5 program to access low-cost capital, diversify its funding sources and invest in job-creating projects across the U.S. Doubling in size since 2020, Peachtree Group has achieved renowned success through investments based on its ability to deploy capital opportunistically through business cycles, taking advantage of its holistic view of the market.