New Crown VP Focuses On Hotels

BEVERLY HILLS, CA-Kevin Deverich has joined Crown Realty & Development Inc. as VP overseeing the Beverly Hills- and Irvine-based real estate investment and development firms newly formed hotel division, according to Jaime Sohacheski and Robert Flaxman, chairman and president respectively of the company.

Deverich most recently was president of Merv Griffin Hotels and an EVP with the company’s parent entity, The Griffin Group. Deverich and hotel division staff will be working from Crowns Beverly Hills office.

The new Crown executive says the timing is right for a well-capitalized company such as Crown to leverage its real estate investment and management experience by acquiring a portfolio of hotel properties. He says long-term prospects are good for the hospitality industry, creating an opportunity for growth as the industry recovers from today’s market conditions in the years to come.

Sohacheski says Crown has assembled significant internal capital resources to acquire hotels, viewing the current hospitality marketplace as an opportunity for acquisitions.

According to Flaxman, Crown will focus on properties ranging from, but not limited to, 200 to 500 rooms. He says hotels represent a natural expansion of the company’s growth strategy and a diversification of its portfolio.