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TAMPA, FL-The 13-year-old Plascencia Group has formed a hotel debt-placement division as part of its capital markets group. The new operation is designed to help clients with debt placements and the short-term or long-term refinancing of their hotel portfolios. Stephen Kindl, a regional vice president for the firm with 20 years of experience in real estate financing, acquisitions and sales, has been named managing director of the new unit.

Kindl calls the new division "a natural extension of the firm's service menu" because Plascencia "has been financing hotels for many years on more of an informal basis." The Debt Placement division will be based in Connecticut, near several Northeast institutional lenders, Kindl says. Plascencia Group CEO Lou Plascencia says the new division will place his company "squarely in the hospitality lending arena, making the company a single source for all hospitality-related transactions."

Plascencia Group has regional offices in Hartford; Tampa; Chicago; Dallas; Austin, TX; Houston; Little Rock, AR; Philadelphia; San Francisco; San Diego; and Washington, DC. Plascencia affiliates are Regent Street for luxury properties and Sun Hospitality Advisors for select-service properties.