Moody Enters South Carolina with 113-Room Buy

HOUSTON-Moody National Cos. made its first buy in South Carolina, adding the 113-room Hyatt Place North Charleston to its portfolio. The local buyer paid $11.8 million in an off-market transaction to Naman Hotels for ownership rights to the three-year-old hotel.

According to Moody National's chairman and CEO Brett Moody, the hotel at 7331 Mazyck Rd. made sense for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it's near Boeing Co.'s 787 aircraft manufacturing plant – a facility that produces parts for the aircraft also known as the Dreamliner. "Boeing recently announced a $1 billion expansion to create another 2,000 new jobs," Moody says.

Furthermore, he goes on to say, he likes the idea that many aerospace companies providing parts to Boeing are likely to relocate into that market because of the Dreamliner assembly plant. The region's fundamentals are strong as well: Charleston ranks high when it comes to primary workforce growth and its seaport is ranked the fourth busiest in the United States , Moody adds.

Moody tells GlobeSt.com that his company learned of the property through David M. Greenberg with Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services' Fort Lauderdale office. "We're a big fan of the Hyatt Place concept," Moody adds.  "This hotel matches well with our portfolio, which consists of premium-branded, select-service hotels." He says the company is continuing to analyze potential buys, and should have more announcements in the near future.