Concord's $500M Build Goal Follows 19-Asset Sale

RALEIGH-DURHAM, NC-Locally based Concord Hospitality Enterprises is planning to build $500 million in new hotels as part of the company’s plans to double the size of its portfolio to 100 by 2010. The new hotels will rise in the US and overseas.

The company expects to have nine hotels under way by the end of the year and in negotiations on another 15 to 20 sites. A Concord spokeswoman tells GlobeSt.com that the company currently manages or owns 51 hotels. Two of the nine hotels slated for construction are in the Phoenix area. As it has done in the past, the company will continue to develop hotels under the Marriott, Hilton, Starwood and Intercontinental brands. “The company is looking to expand internationally but is looking at US markets that are experiencing growth such as Phoenix,” she says.

The announcement comes on the heels of the company’s sale of a 19-hotel portfolio of Marriott-branded properties in eight states for $440 million. “We felt this was a good time to spin off these hotels to capture the appreciated value,” says Concord Hospitality president and CEO Mark Laport, in a prepared statement. “The majority of our joint venture partners have indicated that they want to reinvest the proceeds, which gives us a significant war chest to develop and acquire hotels.”