RALEIGH, North Carolina—The ongoing hotel supply shutdown hasn’t ground Concord Hospitality Enterprise’s development plans to a halt. The company has a $355-million development pipeline for new builds and conversions in the works for 2012.
Mark Laport, Concord’s president and CEO, said he sees an opportunity in today’s climate to boost his company’s development profile. He said construction costs, while increasing, are still reasonable and Concord is finding decent rates from lenders.
Those factors are allowing the company to make inroads in the hotel development game.
“It helps our projects make more sense from an economic feasibility perspective,” he said. Financing for a typical Concord hotel project is at 65% to 70% of cost.
The hotels under construction or in the renovation process for Concord are:
• Residence Inn by Marriott (255 rooms), Jersey City, New Jersey
• Hampton Inn & Suites (194 rooms under renovation), Cleveland
• Cambria Suites (181 rooms), Washington, D.C.
• Hilton Garden Inn (155 rooms), Texarkana, Texas
• Residence Inn by Marriott (154 rooms), Secaucus, New Jersey
• Courtyard by Marriott (153 rooms), Cleveland
• Residence Inn by Marriott (143 rooms), Durham, North Carolina
• Hyatt Summerfield Suites (137 rooms), Raleigh, North Carolina
• Hyatt Summerfield Suites (136 rooms), Pittsburgh
• Homewood Suites by Hilton (130 rooms), Pittsburgh
• Residence Inn by Marriott (125 rooms), Kanata, Ontario, Canada
• Courtyard by Marriott (124 rooms), Knoxville, Tennessee
• SpringHill Suites (109 rooms), Latrobe, Pennsylvania
• Hampton Inn & Suites (108 rooms under renovation), Pittsburgh
“These are the strongest global brands in the business,” Laport said of the hotels under development.
Raleigh, North Carolina-based Concord has a total of 83 hotels in its portfolio, 67 of which are Marriott-flagged properties. With the development projects in 2012, Concord expects to reach a total portfolio size of 14,000 rooms.
Global development
Concord’s global development plans extend beyond the Canadian development efforts. The company also is looking at the reconstruction of a hotel in Haiti.
“We feel there might be an opportunity there if we can find the financing, and we’re on that right now,” he said.
Brazil is on Concord’s global radar, as well, though Laport said land prices in the country could be an obstacle and that “traditional deals” don’t exist.
