Peachtree Snags New Hotel in Charlottesville, VA

By Gail Kalinoski

Fairfield Inn & Suites CornerMarket

Peachtree Hotel Group, an Atlanta-based hotel investment and management firm, has added to its holdings with the acquisition of the 117-key Fairfield Inn & Suites Downtown Charlottesville in Virginia.

HREC Investment Advisors arranged the transaction and represented the seller, Titan Hotel Group of Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Ketan Patel, managing director in HREC’s Washington, D.C.’s office, negotiated the sale for Titan, a developer and operator of select-service hotels in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The firm currently has 12 hotels under management and six under development. This is the fourth hotel HREC has sold for the group.

The newly constructed hotel opened in late July at 401 Cherry Ave. near the city’s historic downtown. It is within walking distance of the University of Virginia, with an enrollment of approximately 23,000 students, and the University of Virginia Medical Center. The John Paul Jones Arena, the state’s largest indoor arena and home of the university’s men’s and women’s basketball teams, and Scott Stadium, where the football team plays, are also near the hotel. It is also a good location for tourists visiting Monticello, the Shenandoah National Park and the region’s many wineries, breweries and wedding venues.

The hotel will be owned and operated by Peachtree as a Marriott franchise. Amenities include an indoor swimming pool, an exercise room, valet laundry service, complimentary Wi-Fi and fax and copy services. It has 498 square feet of meeting space accommodating as many as 20 people and a 24/7 Corner Market convenience store. The lobby also has a living area with sofa and lounge chairs and the breakfast area has a large farm table where guests can enjoy a complimentary hot breakfast, as well as make-your-own waffles, fruit, yogurt and cereal.

“Delivering both function and comfort, our new design and decor elevate the Fairfield brand, setting a new standard in the modern tier category,” Callette Nielsen, vice president & global brand manager, Fairfield Inn & Suites, said in a prepared statement.

Nielsen said the new hotel is an example of “the brand’s contemporary look and feel and we are pleased with the continued growth of the Fairfield Inn & Suites hotels in the Charlottesville area.”

Growing portfolios

Peachtree operates, develops and invests in premium-branded, select- and limited-service and extended-stay hotel assets under the Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Choice and InterContinental Hotels Group flags. The firm’s current portfolio comprises 89 hotel assets totaling 10,991 guestrooms, including 39 real estate assets and 50 notes. Peachtree has invested more than $2.2 billion in hotel properties and first mortgage notes.

In February, Peachtree opened a new 98-key Hilton Garden Inn in Jackson, Tenn., at 1324 Vann Drive. The four-story hotel is situated along Interstate 40, about 70 miles east of Memphis and 120 miles west of Nashville. In September 2017, the hotel group acquired three assets, increasing its holdings by 394 keys. The hotels are Element Denver Park Meadows in Lone Tree, Colo.; Aloft Tempe in Tempe, Ariz.; and the Hampton Inn Green Bay Downtown in Green Bay, Wis. Company officials said the three assets were part of a westward expansion.

HREC, a leading national lodging and gaming real estate advisory firm, has recently arranged the sale of the 209-key Embassy Suites Hotel in Schaumburg, Ill. It was an off-market transaction between a joint venture of Hotel Capital and ORIX Real Estate Americas that sold the asset to Pearlshire Capital Group. Located about 10 miles from Chicago O’Hare International Airport and close to Interstate 90, it is also close to several large corporations and local attractions.

Image courtesy of Marriott