Regions Southeast
RockBridge Takes $46M North Carolina Hotel Portfolio
Aug 8, 2008
By: Judy Feldman, Contributing Correspondent

RockBridge Partners, the equity platform of Columbus, Ohio-based RockBridge Capital, has announced the closure of a deal to acquire Gateway Center, a portfolio with four hotels, office and retail space and five acres of land in Rocky Mount, 60 miles east of Raleigh, N.C. William Hull Jr., the original developer, will continue to be involved in the deal as a minority partner. Hospitality Ventures, headquartered in Atlanta, will be the manager for the hotels.

The four hotels are now a Holiday Inn, (which will eventually become a Doubletree Hotel) a Residence Inn, a Courtyard, and a Comfort Inn. The 168-room Holiday Inn is currently undergoing a $6.5 million conversion into a 166-room Doubletree Hotel. Another $2 million of renovation is planned for the other hotels. When fully renovated, the hotels will have 459 rooms. The office and retail center, located with the hotels, has 32,000 square feet of space.
The new manager of the hotel group, Hospitality Ventures, is a privately held company that was formed in 2001. Hospitality Ventures currently owns and operates 12 hotels with a total of more than 2000 rooms. The hotels, primarily Hilton and Marriotts, are in 10 states.

RockBridge Capital is investing in the hospitality sector, and whenever possible, positions itself as a partner rather than just a lender. Since its inception in 1992, RockBridge Capital has been investing in the hospitality real estate industry with RockBridge Hospitality Funds and its First Mortgage Investment Program. RockBridge invests in both debt and equity ventures. RockBridge has managed eight hospitality-focused funds, four at their previous firm Banc One Capital Markets which is now JP Morgan Chase, and the other four at RockBridge.Their team has invested more than $2.5 billion in over 300 sepaerate assets in the hospitality real estate industry. RockBridge has managed and provided the services for 100% of the assets. RockBridge also provides third party asset management and services to other institutional hotel owners and real estate investors.

 
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