Main Hotel Middleman Says Occupancy Rates Should Stabilize

PORTLAND-If there’s a hotel being sold or developed here, chances are Ed Dundon has something to do with it.

His locally-based brokerage firm Dundon & Co. is known for closing hotel deals, whether it’s a disposition or a development. Indeed, the city’s most well-known downtown hotel happenings of late – expansion of the Hilton Hotel, development of the Residence Inn by Marriott at Riverplace and the Heathman Hotel sale – have all involved Dundon & Co.

So when the FDIC last week warned lending institutions of possible hotel overbuilding in the area, GlobeSt.com got Dundon on the phone to talk about the state of the Portland hospitality market. For one, says Dundon, the development pipeline is relatively dry. In the company’s March report, some 12 hotels (1,100 rooms) were under construction. Now, says Dundon, construction has slowed to five hotels and closer to 800 rooms.