19 Feb Opportunities for Development

As leaders of our organizations, we are constantly challenged to anticipate opportunities for development and determine how our company can capitalize on those opportunities.  It has been our experience that economic cycles have a pattern and based on these patterns, we can anticipate new development opportunities.   The current economic conditions are no exception.

Last April, we shared with our readership a trend for the Hospitality Industry.  Based on the business cycle for this real estate segment we expected that the planning for new projects would start in the fall of 2011 and into 2012 (check out the April article).  Our backlog of work includes multiple new hotel development opportunities that are starting to take shape.

Currently we are working on one new “greenfield” hotel project that has a commitment for financing.   In addition, a municipal convention center is interested in developing a headquarters hotel.  They recently released an RFP to which four development teams have offered development and financing services.    We are also working with a couple of different developers who are exploring and securing property for three other hotel developments.  What this all means is that the trends we saw in early 2011 leading to new project development are valid.

At the same time we have seen an up-tick in the lending activity.  We are working with several lenders who are getting “back into the game” by providing construction and development loans based on acceptable terms.  One of our clients has developed several unique lending programs enabling developers with qualified projects to get started again.

Should you or your client be interested, we will be glad to provide introductions to our client for qualified projects.