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.
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.
Investing in a franchise hotel can be a good way to diversify your portfolio and to achieve solid returns over an extended period of time. Finding the right hotel financing options can make this acquisition even more profitable. Comfort letters are designed to provide a legal framework for lenders and franchisors to handle situations in which the hotel purchaser defaults on the loan. Here are some facts ever investor should know about comfort letters.
Comfort letters are documents that allow lenders to assume franchise rights if the original franchisee defaults on the loan. These letters include provisions that ensure that lenders can continue to operate the hotel in the event of default or foreclosure on franchise hotel loans.
Comfort letters offer several benefits for all parties involved in the transaction, including the following:
Many lenders require comfort letters before they will finalize loans for franchise hotel properties.
In most cases, the comfort letter is drawn up by the franchise company as part of the franchising process. These legal documents may follow a standardized template or may be customized to suit the needs of the borrower and the lender. The contents of the letter may include some or all of the following provisions:
These provisions are designed to protect the lender if the hotel financing loan goes into default.
Peachtree Group is a direct lender with a specialty in hospitality lending. Our originators work with investors across the US to provide the most practical hotel financing arrangements for their specific needs. Contact us today to discuss your financial needs with one of our expert loan originators. We work with you to provide the best options for your hotel financing requirements.
Statista estimates the value of the commercial real estate market will reach $24.67 trillion in 2023. According to the Deloitte Center for Financial Services 2024 industry outlook, half the industry expects the cost of capital and capital availability to worsen through next year. Couple that with the $1.5 trillion wall of debt maturing before the end of 2025 and it’s easy to understand the trepidation in the market today.
But we’ve been here before.
The credit team at Peachtree Group has completed hundreds of transactions worth north of $15 billion. In our collective careers, we have seen borrowers navigate unstable markets, such as what we are experiencing today, in a variety of different ways.
Here are five tips for borrowers trying to navigate today’s difficult market, and secure funding for their project.
It has been a borrower’s market for several years now, and this is not one of them. Do not forsake the term sheet in your hand – the Fed has raised interest rates 11 times since March of 2022. Spending too much time on turns of a term sheet might leave you losing any spread concessions to increases in the benchmark or, even worse – lenders deciding to pull terms altogether. If you have an offer from someone you trust, you might want to take it.
On existing projects, your current lender is most likely your best friend. A lender willing to give you an extension is gold in this market. Getting additional terms out of your current lender is likely the least costly option, even if it comes with fees and a rate increase – it likely is still significantly less costly than what the current market will give you. However, I hope that you have been a good borrower – up to date on deliverables, communicative about the status of your project, etc. – make no mistake, the bank is doing you a favor, don't give credit committee a reason to say no.
Being one of the largest CPACE originators in the country, Peachtree has seen a significant increase in pipeline looking to apply proceeds retroactively. Properties are eligible for CPACE up to 3 years after certificate of occupancy in approved municipalities and proceeds can generally be up to 35% of stabilized value. It’s a source of capital that has become more interesting to first mortgage lenders as the proceeds could be used to paydown your first mortgage and size a new interest reserve.
We pride ourselves on being lenders who want to be part of the solution when a deal has a budget bust or stabilization is taking longer than anticipated. However, I always encourage borrowers to size up their budget contingencies (i.e., 7% vs. 5%) or structure additional interest reserves. Yes, it will increase your initial capitalization, but your lender will pick up 60-70% of that cost in the loan funding. It may mean more work on the initial capital raise, but it's usually less costly than going back to your lender and/or equity mid-project to get additional capital.
Lenders have access to data and information. They ultimately will discover the truth; it might as well come from you. This includes prior credit aberrations or issues and accurate property performance information. We have capital specifically for lending on special situations – there are a lot of deal-level risks that can be mitigated, but lack of trust with sponsorship is not one of them.
In uncertain times, hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Peachtree is an experienced capital partner who understands commercial real estate's nuances. With funding options limited from traditional lenders, our team has the lending solutions, financial capacity, and expertise to close complex transactions in today's challenging capital market environment.
We are available to discuss your lending options that meet your business objectives. Visit us at www.peachtreegroup.com.
Daniel Siegel is president and principal of Peachtree's commercial real estate lending group.
Before joining Peachtree, he was with Ardent Companies as managing director and the head of high-yield investments leading the company’s debt investments. Prior to that, Daniel was vice president of acquisitions at Rialto Capital, overseeing the distressed loan acquisitions platform. During his tenure at Rialto, Daniel directly oversaw the acquisition of commercial real estate loans on domestic and international opportunities. Additionally, he developed the firm’s small balance loan acquisition platform and led the company’s first European acquisition.
Daniel has a bachelor’s degree in finance from Tulane University. Contact him at dsiegel@peachtreegroup.com.