The three-year-old portfolio consists of Renaissance Hotels, SpringHill Suites and Courtyards in Sunbelt states and parts of the Midwest and Northeast. Moody National says it plans to put another $20 million into upgrading the assets. Brett Moody, chairman and CEO of Moody National Cos., says the buy will give his company control of the Marriott brand in East Rutherford, NJ and West Des Moines, IA. "This will give us good pricing power," he says, adding that upgrades will include new television sets. Concord Management will continue managing the assets.

Moody tells GlobeSt.com that there is no plan to flip any part of the portfolio anytime soon, especially since eight hotels carry existing debt assumed by the buyer that comes due in 2009. "We'll recondition those with different debt when they become available in the next couple of years," he says. To date, seven of the eight loans have been assumed, with the Courtyard Pittsburgh Shadyside at 5308 Liberty Ave. in Pittsburgh, set to trade within 60 days. Moody National Mortgage Corp., also in Houston, arranged financing for 12 hotels through New York City-based Citigroup Global Markets Realty Corp.

Moody explains the investment already has yielded some benefits, pointing out that the portfolio's NOI had increased by $2.7 million between the purchase contract and the closing. The portfolio's occupancy is 73.5%; its average daily room rate is $115.29.

Mark Elliott with Hodges Ward Elliott Inc. in Atlanta represented the seller. Moody National was self-represented.

Moody National is ramping up its investment in hotels. It has three more hotels under contract with different sellers and is overseeing ground-up development on another eight hotels in the Houston area.

The portfolio's largest concentration of hotels is situated in Pennsylvania. In addition to the Courtyard in Shadyside, the Greater Pittsburgh properties are the Pittsburgh Courtyard Downtown at 945 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh SpringHill Suites Airport at 239 Summit Dr., Pittsburgh Courtyard Waterfront at 401 W. Waterfront Dr. in West Homestead and SpringHill Suites at 16 Trinity Point Dr. in Washington. Moody also bought the Altoona Courtyard Downtown at 2 Convention Center Dr. in Altoona and Butler Fairfield Inn & Suites at 200 Fairfield Lane in Butler.

In New Jersey, the assets are Meadowlands Renaissance Hotel at 801 Rutherford Ave. and Meadowlands Fairfield Inn at 850 Paterson Plank Rd., in East Rutherford, and Lyndhurst Courtyard at 1 Polito Ave. in Lyndhurst.

The Ohio hotels are Columbus Courtyard Downtown at 35 West Spring St. and Columbus Courtyard Airport at 2901 Airport Dr. and Courtyard at 35103 Maplegrove Rd. in Willoughby.

The Iowa hotels are all located in West Des Moines. The just-bought properties are the Marriott at 1250 Jordan Creek Pkwy., SpringHill Suites at 1236 Jordan Creek Pkwy. and Fairfield Inn & Suites at 7225 Vista Dr.

The portfolio also includes the Atlanta Residence Inn Midtown/Historic at 1041 W. Peachtree St. in Georgia; West Palm Beach Courtyard Airport at 1800 Centrepark Dr. East in Florida; Houston SpringHill Suites at 1400 Old Spanish Trail in Texas and Waterbury Courtyard at 63 Grand St. in Connecticut.