MIAMI — Miami-based Driftwood Capital has completed the $415 million recapitalization of a nationwide hospitality portfolio valued at $1.2 billion. The portfolio includes 18 Hilton-, Marriott- and Margaritaville-branded hotels totaling 4,203 rooms across 10 states.
Wells Fargo led financing for the debt component of the transaction with a roughly $330 million securitized senior loan. ACORE Capital provided $85 million in preferred equity.
Many of the properties are located in high-growth markets within California, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Utah and New York. Prominent hotels include Margaritaville Lake Resort Lake of the Ozarks, Marriott San Diego Mission Valley, Hilton Dallas/Southlake Town Square, Canopy by Hilton West Palm Beach Downtown and Hotel Vesper in Houston. Each asset in the portfolio has either been newly built or comprehensively renovated in recent years.
“This portfolio brings together some of the highest quality assets we own and operate, creating a uniquely cohesive investment opportunity for our partners,” says Carlos Rodriguez Sr., chairman and CEO of Driftwood. “We’ve intentionally assembled this particular portfolio of assets to reflect strength in markets, performance and long-term fundamentals.”
Driftwood says the transaction marks a major milestone in its strategy to create scalable hospitality portfolios, designed to maximize value through operational control, brand alignment and portfolio-level synergies.
“We see this portfolio as a blueprint for how we intend to invest and operate in the next cycle,” says Carlos Rodriguez Jr., president and COO of Driftwood. “It reflects our focus on building high-quality, strategically located hotel portfolios — just like we did with our recent Space Coast Fund, which represented over $800 million in assets.”
Founded in 2015, Driftwood is a vertically integrated commercial real estate investment, development and operations firm focused exclusively on the hospitality sector with over $5 billion in transactions to date.
— Kristin Harlow