Dallas Trio Unveils $70M Hotel Development Pipeline

The local investment group, Gatebridge Hospitality, is comprised of Gatehouse Capital, Champ Development and Aimbridge Hospitality. To get the brand moving in Texas, the White Plains-based Starwood carved out a protected territory in Dallas/Fort Worth for the development group, with an agreement to replenish the till as sites are built out, veteran hotel developer Joe Champ tells GlobeSt.com. Talks are under way for tracts, ranging from 2.3 to 2.8 acres, in Frisco, Plano, Las Colinas, Downtown Dallas, and the Fort Worth CBD plus its arts district--all highly visible sites near lifestyle centers.

"We need to get the protected territory working first and then I'll get additional territories working after that," Champ says. The "future itinerary" includes all Texas metros and Oklahoma City. He is planning to simultaneously break ground on two hotels by year's end, but then stagger the starts for the balance of the first wave. The schedule calls for five aloft hotels to be open in 18 months to two years. He says construction financing will be finalized in 60 to 90 days.

Champ, a one-time senior vice president for Starwood, started to assemble the investment group about a year ago after hearing about the select-service concept for Starwood's W Hotel chain. The high-tech, high-style emerging brand, designed by the W Hotel's master craftsman, David Rockwell, costs $95,000 per key to bring out of the ground, excluding land costs. The prototype is a 136-room, "urban hip" hotel with loft-like rooms, oversized windows and boutique-style amenities to capitalize on demand from experience-seeking, trend-setting customers. "Our advantage over the boutiques is we can offer a boutique experience at a price point that's going to be very competitive," Champ says. "People are ready for something different in the hospitality industry."

Champ says the sweet spot to the aloft design is its flexibility for development in suburban or urban markets. His plan is to build the prototype, where possible, but admits that the price of Downtown sites might drive a smaller hotel yet true to the flag.