JV To Develop Up to 10 Aloft Brand Hotels

CHICAGO-Interstate Hotels & Resorts and Chicago-based John Buck Co. are partnering to build between five to 10 select-service hotels under the aloft flag over the next several years. The first two sites–in California and Tennessee–have already been selected.

John Buck Co. will handle site selection, construction and development in the joint venture. Interstate Hotels will operate the hotels once they have been built. The two firms will also be equity partners in the hotels.

Paul Novak, John Buck Co.’s managing director, hospitality division who will oversee development of the hotels, tells GlobeSt.com that the JV expects to do between five to seven hotels initially using roughly $50 million in equity. He would not disclose leverage but did say “there will be an appropriate amount of debt on each project.” According to Novak, the JV is in negotiations on a number of other sites as well.