Corebridge Real Estate Investors has sold two Marriott-branded Aloft Hotels located in Plano and Frisco to Touchstone Hospitality Fund, a firm led by Deepak Gandhi and Niren Patel. The transaction closed on December 12, according to public records.
Each hotel was built in 2008 and contains 136 rooms. Touchstone Hospitality Fund financed the acquisition with a $20 million loan from Regent Bank, which equates to about $73,500 per room. The final sale price has not been disclosed.
“We took this out wide with a public marketing process and ended up getting nine offers on the assets,” said Kami Burnette, senior vice president of Hunter Hotel Advisors, which brokered the deal. “We ended up selecting a buyer who’s local to the DFW Metroplex, and we felt pretty comfortable with his ability to execute.”
Plano and Frisco are northern suburbs of Dallas that have attracted numerous businesses in recent years. Companies such as Chobani, Toyota, CohnReznick, and Sally Beauty have established operations in Collin County. Some firms are relocating from Downtown Dallas.
The proximity of major sports venues influenced the buyers’ decision. The Star in Frisco serves as both training facility and headquarters for the Dallas Cowboys. Additionally, a PGA-branded Omni hotel operates nearby in Frisco. There is also speculation that Plano could become home to the Dallas Stars or possibly even the Mavericks.
“[Ghandi] sees future upside in Dallas, inclusive of next year’s World Cup and some of the demand that’s going to come from that,” Burnette said.
North Texas currently leads the nation in hotel construction activity. According to Lodging Econometrics, more than 24,000 rooms were either planned or under development across Dallas as of this summer. The region is expected to require around 150,000 rooms during the World Cup semifinals scheduled for July.
Corebridge originally acquired both hotels in 2015 for an undisclosed amount.
